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FARTHEST    NORTH 

Being  the  Record  of  a  Voyage  of  Exploration 

of  the  Ship  ''Franf'  i8gj-g6  and  of  a 

Fifteen  Months    Sleigh  Jonr^iey  by 

Dr.  Nansen  and  Lient.  fohansen 


DR.  FRIDTJOF    NANSEN 

WITH    AN    APPENDIX 

BY  OTTO  SVERDRUP 
CAPTAIN  OF  THE  FRAM 

About  120  Full  -  page  and  Numerous  Text  Illustrations 
16  Colored  Plates  in  Facsimile  from  Dr.  jVansen's  Oivn 
Sketches,    Etched    Portrait,    Photogravures,    and   4.    Maps 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES 
Vol.  II. 


NEW    YORK 
HARPER    &    BROTHERS    PUBLISHERS 

1897 


Copyright,  1897,  by  Harper  &  Bkothers. 

All  rights  rese>~ved. 


College 
Library 


CONTENTS    OF   VOL.  11. 


CHAP.  PAGB 

I.  We  Prepare  for  the  Sledge  Expedition  .    .  i 

II.  The  New  Year,  1895    . 41 

III.  We  Make  a  Start 90 

IV.  We  Say  Good-bye  to  the  "  Fram  "     ....  132 
V.  A  Hard  Struggle 157 

VI.  By  Sledge  and  Kayak 236 

VII.  Land  at  Last 308 

VIII.  The  New  Year,  1896 454 

IX.  The  Journey  Southward    .........  487 


APPENDIX 

Report   of   Captain   Otto   Sverdrup   on   the    Drifting   of  the 
"  Fram  "  FROM  March  14,  1895. 

I.  March  15  to  June  22,  1895 601 

II.  June  22  to  August  15,  1895 6^3 

III.  August  15  to  January  i,  1896 648 

IV.  January  i  to  May  17,  1896 668 

V.  The  Third  Summer 683 

Conclusion 7(^7 

Index 715 


1r   r-r^  '-.  r-  ,Q 


ILLUSTRATIONS    IN    VOL.  II. 


PAGE 


SAILING    KAYAKS    {Photogravure) Froiitispiece 

HJALMAR   JOHANSEN Facing  p.  2 

at  the  supper-table  (february  i4,  1 895) 9 

scott-hansen's  observatory 17 

MUSICAL   entertainment   IN   THE   SALOON 35 

CAPTAIN   SVERDRUP   IN   HIS   CABIN 49 

THE    "  FRAM  "    IN    THE    ICE    (Pliotograinirc)  .      .      .    Facing  p.  54 

"ALL   HANDS   ON   DECK  !" 56 

"  A    MOST   REMARKABLE   MOON  " 65 

THE  "  FRAM  "  AFTER  AN  ICE-PRESSURE  (JANUARY  lO,  1 895)  67 

THE   WINTER   NIGHT   (JANUARY    14,  1 895) 7 1 

A   WHIST-PARTY   IN   THE   SALOON  (FEBRUARY    1 5,   1895)     .  79 

UPPER   END   OF   THE    SUPPER-TABLE  (FEBRUARY   1 5,   1895)  83 

STOPPING   A   DOG-FIGHT 85 

LOWER   END    OF   SUPPER-TABLE 87 

THE   CREW  OF   THE  "  FRAM  "  AFTER   THEIR  SECOND  WIN- 
TER  (about    FEBRUARY    24,    1 895) 93 

THE   "FRAM"   IN   THE   ICE   (1895) 103 

SUNDAY   AFTERNOON   ON    BOARD I07 

THE   COOKING   APPARATUS 122 

THE   START   FROM   THE   "  FRAM  "   (MARCH    14,    1895)       .      .  133 

OUR  LAST  CAMP  BEFORE   PARTING  FROM    OUR   COMRADES  1 37 

A   NIGHT   CAMP   ON   THE   JOURNEY   NORTH 1 54 

TAILPIECE 156 

NORTHWARD    THROUGH    THE    DRIFT -SNOW    (APRIL,    1895)  1 59 
NOTHING     BUT     ICE,    ICE    TO     THE     HORIZON    (APRIL     7, 

1895) Facing  p.  I  62 


viii  ILL  USTRA  TLONS 


PAGE 


OVER   DIFFICULT   PRESSURE-MOUNDS   (APRIL,   1895).      .      .  165 

"I   WENT   ON   AHEAD   ON   SNOW-SHOES  " 169 

"ON    TOLERABLY   GOOD    GROUND" 171 

OUR    NORTHERNMOST    CAMP,  86°    1 3.6'   N.  LAT.   (APRIL    8, 

1895) 173 

"BARO,"    THE    RUNAWAY Facing  p.  1 78 

REST   (APRIL,   1895) 181 

JOHANSEN    CARVING   OUR   NAMES    IN   A   STOCK    OF   DRIFT- 
WOOD   185 

PECULIAR   ICE   STRATIFICATION   (APRIL,   1 895) 1 87 

"WE   MADE   FAIRLY   GOOD    PROGRESS" 203 

REPAIRING    THE   KAYAKS 24O 

A   COIGN   OF   VANTAGE.      PACKED    ICE 25 1 

"A   CURDLED    SEA " 257 

CHANNELS    IN   THE   ICE   IN   SUMMER   (jUNE,   1 895)     .      .      .  263 

"SUGGEN."      "KAIFAS" 277 

CROSSING   A   CRACK    IN    THE   ICE 287 

JOHANSEN  SITTING   IN   THE   SLEEPING-BAG   IN   THE  HUT   .  293 

CHANNELS   IN   THE   ICE   (jUNE    24,   1 895) 297 

MY   LAST   DOG,  "  KAIFAS  " 307 

"INCREDIBLY   SLOW   PROGRESS"       . 323 

"THIS    INCONCEIVABLE   TOIL" 327 

"  YOU    MUST   LOOK   SHARP  !" 33° 

WE   REACH   THE   OPEN   WATER  (AUGUST   6,   1 895)        •      •      •  337 

ICEBERG   ON   THE   NORTH    SIDE   OF   FRANZ   JOSEF   LAND     .  35 1 

A    PADDLE   ALONG   THE   EDGE   OF   THE   ICE 359 

GLAZIER — FRANZ  JOSEF   LAND 361 

A   CAMP   ON   THE   COAST   OF   FRANZ   JOSEF   LAND.      ...  367 

CRACK   IN   THE   ICE 375 

"SAILING   ALONG   THE   COAST" 37^ 

A   FIGHT  AGAINST   THE   STORM  TO  REACH   LAND  (AUGUST 

29,  1895) 381 

WALRUSES 387 

WE   BUILD    OUR   FIRST   HUT 39° 


ILL  USTIiA  TLONS  IX 

PAGE 

WALRUSES 397 

"  IN    THE    WATER    LAY    WALRUSES  " 409 

"I   PHOTOGRAPHED    HIM   AND    THE   WALRUS"      ....  417 

"IT   GAZED   WICKEDLY   AT    US  " 419 

AT   OUR   WINTER   QUARTERS 43  I 

AN    ILLEGIBLE   PAGE   FROM   DIARY 437 

OUR    WINTER   HUT    (DECEMBER    31,   1 895) 45 1 

"LIFE   IN   OUR   HUT" 456 

"JOHANSEN   FIRED   THROUGH    THE   OPENING"     ....  468 

"OUR   WINTER    LAIR" 489 

SOUTHWARD    (MAY,   1 896) 49 1 

OVER   THE   ICE    TOWARDS   THE   ISLAND   (MAY,  24,   1 896)     .  495 
A   SAIL  WITH   SLEDGES.       SOUTH    OF    CAPE    RICHTHOFEN 

(JUNE   6,  1896) 507 

"I    MANAGED   TO    SWING   ONE    LEG   UP  " 515 

"IT    TRIED    TO    UPSET    ME  " 52O 

OUR   LAST   CAMP 523 

FRANZ   JOSEF   LAND 528 

MEETING   OF   JACKSON   AND    NANSEN 53 1 

MR.  JACKSON'S   STATION   AT   CAPE   FLORA 535 

NANSEN   AT   CAPE    FLORA 537 

A   CHAT   AFTER   DINNER 541 

THE   WOUNDED   BEAR 543 

JOHANSEN   AT   CAPE    FLORA 545 

A   VISITOR 547 

JACKSON   ON   CAPE   FLORA 55 1 

BASALTIC   ROCK 554 

A   STRANGE   ROCK   OF    BASALT 559 

PLANT   FOSSILS 56 1 

KITTIWAKE   ON   HER   NEST 565 

BASALTIC   CLIFFS 567 

MR.  JACKSON   AT   ELMWOOD 569 

JOHANSEN   IN   JACKSON'S   SALOON 571 

CAPE   FLORA.      FAREWELL   TO    FRANZ   JOSEF   LAND    .      .      .  577 


X  ILL  USTRA  TJONS 


PAGE 


"WE   STOOD   LOOKING   OVER   THE   SEA  " 580 

ARRIVAL   AT   HAMMERFEST 587 

THE   "WINDWARD"    LEAVING   TROMSO 59I 

TAILPIECE 597 

ORIGINAL   MAP   OF   KAISER   FRANZ   JOSEF   LAND    ....  599 


APPENDIX 

DIGGING   OUT   THE   "  FRAM  "   (MARCH,  1 895) 603 

THE  "  FRAM  "  WHEN  DUG  OUT  OF  THE  PRESSURE-MOUND 

AT   THE   END   OF   MARCH,  1 895 607 

FITTING  THE  HAND-SLEDGES  WITH  RUNNERS  (jULY,  1 895)  6 II 

VIEW   OVER   THE   DRIFT-ICE.      DEPOT   IN   FOREGROUND     .  615 
PRESSURE-MOUND   NEAR   THE   "  FRAM  "    (APRIL,  1 895)  .      .621 

ICE-SMITHY   (may,   1 895) 625 

THE   "FRAM"   BEFORE   HER   RELEASE 627 

THE   PROCESSION   (MAY    1 7,   1 895) 629 

TAILPIECE 632 

CHANNEL  ASTERN   OF   THE   "  FRAM  "   (jUNE,  1895)     .      .      .  635 
MOVABLE  METEOROLOGICAL  STATION   ON  THE  ICE  (jULY, 

1895) 639 

OBSERVATION    WITH    SEXTANT  AND   ARTIFICIAL  HORIZON 

(JULY,  1895) 645 

CLEANING   THE  ACCUMULATORS    BEFORE  STOWING  AWAY 

(JULY,   1895) 653 

WORKSHOP   ON   DECK   (jULY,   1 895) 659 

PETTERSEN  AND  BLESSING  ON  A   HUMMOCK  (APRIL,   1 895)  673 

LARS   PETTERSEN   ON   SNOW-SHOES 679 

TAILPIECE 682 

FLAYING  WALRUSES 697 

TAILPIECE 706 

THE  MEMBERS  OF  THE  EX:PEDITI0N  AFTER  THEIR  RETURN 

TO    CHRISTIANIA 709 


COLORED    PLATES    IN    VOL.  11. 


IX.    LIGHT     PHENOMENA    IN     THE     POLAR    NIGHT 

(NOVEMBER    22,    1 893) Facing  p.       96 

X.   THE   POLAR   NIGHT   (NOVEMBER  24,   1 893)    .      .  "         1 76 
XI.    MOON-RING   WITH    MOCK    MOONS,  AND   A   SUG- 
GESTION OF  HORIZONTAL  AXES  (NOVEM- 
BER  24,  1893) "         248 

XII.   MOONLIGHT  PHENOMENA   AT   THE  BEGINNING 

OF  THE  POLAR  NIGHT  (NOVEMBER,  1 893)  "         32O 

XIII.  STREAMERS    OF    AURORA    BOREALIS    (NOVEM- 

BER  28,  1893) "        400 

XIV.  ICE   NEAR   THE   "  FRAM  "   (JULY   4,   1894)       .      .  "        472 
XV.   AURORA    BOREALIS   (OCTOBER    1 8,   1 894)  ...  "         584 

XVI.   AN   AURORAL   CROWN   (DECEMBER,   1 894)      .      .  "        664 


FARTHEST    NORTH 


CHAPTER   I 
WE    PREPARE    FOR    THE    SLEDGE    EXPEDITION 

Who  are  to  be  the  two  members  of  the  expedition  ? 
Sverdriip  and  I  have  tested  each  other  before  at  this 
sort  of  work,  and  we  could  manage  very  well ;  but  we 
cannot  both  leave  the  Frani :  that  is  perfectly  clear 
without  further  argument.  One  of  us  must  remain  be- 
hind to  take  on  himself  the  responsibility  of  bringing 
the  others  home  in  safety;  but  it  is  equally  clear  that 
one  of  us  two  must  conduct  the  sledge  expedition,  as 
it  is  we  who  have  the  necessary  experience.  Sverdrup 
has  a  great  desire  to  go  ;  but  I  cannot  think  otherwise 
than  that  there  is  more  risk  in  leaving  the  Fram  than 
in  remaining  on  board  her.  Consequently  if  I  were  to 
let  him  2:0,  I  should  be  transferrinor  to  him  the  more 
dangerous  task,  while  keeping  the  easier  one  to  myself. 
If  he  perished,  should  I  ever  be  able  to  forgive  myself 
for  letting  him  go,  even  if  it  was  at  his  own  desire  '^.  He 
is  nine  years  older  than  I  am ;  I  should  certainly  feel  it 
II.— I 


2  FARTHEST  NORTH 

to  be  a  very  uncomfortable  responsibility.  And  as  re- 
gards our  comrades,  which  of  us  would  it  be  most  to 
their  interest  to  keep  on  board?  I  think  they  have  con- 
fidence in  both  of  us,  and  I  think  either  of  us  would  be 
able  to  take  them  home  in  safety,  whether  with  or  with- 
out the  Fram.  But  the  ship  is  his  especial  charge,  while 
on  me  rests  the  conduct  of  the  whole,  and  especially  of 
the  scientific  investigations  ;  so  that  I  ought  to  under- 
take the  task  in  which  important  discoveries  are  to  be 
made.  Those  who  remain  with  the  ship  will  be  able,  as 
aforesaid,  to  carry  on  the  observations  which  are  to  be 
made  on  board.  It  is  my  duty  therefore,  to  go,  and  his 
to  remain  behind.     He,  too,  thinks  this  reasonable. 

I  have  chosen  Johansen  to  be  my  companion,  and 
he  is  in  all  respects  well  qualified  for  that  work.  He 
is  an  accomplished  snow-shoer,  and  few  can  equal  his 
powers  of  endurance — a  fine  fellow,  physically  and  men- 
tally. I  have  not  yet  asked  him,  but  think  of  doing 
so  soon,  in  order  that  he  may  be  prepared  betimes. 
Blessing  and  Hansen  also  would  certainly  be  all  eager- 
ness to  accompany  me ;  but  Hansen  must  remain  behind 
to  take  charge  of  the  observations,  and  Blessing  cannot 
desert  his  post  as  doctor.  Several  of  the  others,  too, 
would  do  quite  well,  and  would,  I  doubt  not,  be  willing 
enough. 

This  expedition  to  the  north,  then,  is  provisionally 
decided  on.  I  shall  see  what  the  winter  will  bring  us. 
Light  permitting,  I  should  prefer  to  start  in  February. 


HJALMAR    JOHANSEN 

{From  a  pliotograph  takett  in  December,  1893) 


WE  PREPARE  EOR    THE  SLEDGE  EXPEDITION      3 

"Sunday,  November  i8th.  It  seems  as  if  I  could 
not  properly  realize  the  idea  that  I  am  really  to  set 
out,  and  that  in  three  months'  time.  Sometimes  I  de- 
lude myself  with  charming  dreams  of  my  return  home 
after  toil  and  victory,  and  then  all  is  clear  and  bright. 
Then  these  are  succeeded  by  thoughts  of  the  uncer- 
tainty and  deceptiveness  of  the  future  and  what  may 
be  lurking  in  it,  and  my  dreams  fade  away  like  the 
northern  lights,  pale  and  colorless. 

"  '  Ihr  naht  euch  wieder,  schwankende  Gestalten.' 

"  Ugh  !  These  everlasting  cold  fits  of  doubt !  Be- 
fore every  decisive  resolution  the  dice  of  death  must  be 
thrown.  Is  there  too  much  to  venture,  and  too  little  to 
gain  ?  There  is  more  to  be  gained,  at  all  events,  than 
there  is  here.  Then  is  it  not  my  duty  ?  Besides,  there 
is  only  one  to  whom  I  am  responsible,  and  she  .  .  .  ? 
I  shall  come  back,  I  know  it.  I  have  strength  enough 
for  the  task.  '  Be  thou  true  unto  death,  and  thou  shalt 
inherit  the  crown  of  life.' 

"  We  are  oddly  constructed  machines.  At  one  mo- 
ment all  resolution,  at  the  next  all  doubt.  .  .  .  To-day  our 
intellect,  our  science,  all  our  '  Leben  und  Treiben,'  seem 
but  a  pitiful  Philistinism,  not  worth  a  pipe  of  tobacco ; 
to-morrow  we  throw  ourselves  heart  and  soul  into  these 
very  researches,  consumed  with  a  burning  thirst,  to  ab- 
sorb everything  into  ourselves,  longing  to  spy  out  fresh 
paths,  and  fretting  impatiently  at  our  inability  to  solve 


4  FARTHEST  NORTH 

the  problem  fully  and  completely.     Then  down  we  sink 
again  in  disgust  at  the  worthlessness  of  it  all. 

" '  As  a  grain  of  dust  on  the  balance  is  the  whole 
world ;  as  a  drop  of  morning  dew  that  falls  on  the 
ground.'  If  man  has  two  souls,  which  then  is  the 
right  one  ? 

"It  is  nothing  new  to  suffer  from  the  fact  that  our 
khowledge  can  be  but  fragmentary,  that  we  can  never 
fathom  what  lies  behind.  But  suppose,  now,  that  we 
could  reckon  it  out,  that  the  inmost  secret  of  it  all  lay 
as  clear  and  plain  to  us  as  a  rule-of-three  sum,  should 
we  be  any  the  happier?  Possibly  just  the  reverse.  Is 
it  not  in  the  struggle  to  attain  knowledge  that  happi- 
ness consists  ?  I  am  very  ignorant,  consequently  the 
conditions  of  happiness  are  mine. 

"  Let  me  fill  a  soothing  pipe  and  be  happy. 

"  No,  the  pipe  is  not  a  success.  Twist  tobacco  is  not 
delicate  enough  for  airy  dreams.  Let  me  get  a  cigar. 
Oh,  if  one  had  a  real  Havana! 

"  H'm  !  as  if  dissatisfaction,  longing,  suffering,  were 
not  the  very  basis  of  life.  Without  privation  there  would 
be  no  struggle,  and  without  struggle  no  life,  that  is  as 
certain  as  that  two  and  two  make  four.  And  now 
the  struggle  is  to  begin ;  it  is  looming  yonder  in  the 
north.  Oh,  to  drink  delight  of  battle  in  long,  deep 
draughts !  Battle  means  life,  and  behind  it  victory  beck- 
ons us  on. 

"  I  close  my  eyes,     I  hear  a  voice  singing  to  me : 


WE  PREPARE  FOR  THE  SLEDGE  EXPEDITION     5 

"'In  amongst  the  fragrant  birch, 

In  amongst  the  flowers'  perfume, 
Deep  into  the  pine-wood's  church.' 

"Monday,  November  19th.  Confounded  affectation 
all  this  Weltschmerz ;  you  have  no  right  to  be  anything 
but  a  happy  man.  And  if  you  feel  out  of  spirits,  it  ought 
to  cheer  you  up  simply  to  go  on  deck  and  look  at  these 
seven  puppies  that  come  frisking  and  springing  about 
you,  and  are  ready  to  tear  you  to  pieces  in  sheer  enjoy- 
ment of  life.  Life  is  sunshine  to  them,  though  the  sun 
has  long  since  gone,  and  they  live  on  deck  beneath  a 
tent,  so  that  they  cannot  even  see  the  stars.  There  is 
'  Kvik,'  the  mother  of  the  family,  among  them,  looking  so 
plump  and  contented  as  she  wags  her  tail.  Have  you 
not  as  much  reason  to  be  happy  as  they }  Yet  they  too 
have  their  misfortunes.  The  afternoon  of  the  day  before 
yesterday,  as  I  was  sitting  at  work,  I  heard  the  mill  go- 
ing round  and  round,  and  Peter  taking  food  to  the 
puppies,  which,  as  usual,  had  a  bit  of  a  fight  over  the 
meat-pan ;  and  it  struck  me  that  the  axle  of  the  mill  whirl- 
ing unguarded  on  the  deck  was  an  extremely  dangerous 
affair  for  them.  Ten  minutes  later  I  heard  a  dog  howling, 
a  more  long-drawn,  uncomfortable  kind  of  howl  than  was 
usual  when  they  were  fighting,  and  at  the  same  moment 
the  mill  slowed  down,  I  rushed  out.  There  I  saw  a 
puppy  right  in  the  axle,  whirling  round  with  it  and  howl- 
ing piteously,  so  that  it  cut  one  to  the  soul.  Bentzen  was 
hanging  on  to  the  brake-rope,  hauling  at  it   with   all  his 


6  FARTHEST  NORTH 

might  and  main ;  but  still  the  mill  went  round.  My  first 
idea  was  to  seize  an  axe  that  was  lying  there  to  put  the 
dog  out  of  its  misery,  its  cries  were  so  heartrending ;  but 
on  second  thoughts  I  hurried  on  to  help  Bentzen,  and  we 
got  the  mill  stopped.  At  the  same  moment  Mogstad  also 
came  up,  and  while  we  held  the  mill  he  managed  to  set 
the  puppy  free.  Apparently  there  was  still  some  life  in 
it,  and  he  set  to  work  to  rub  it  gently  and  coax  it.  The 
hair  of  its  coat  had  somehow  or  other  ©ot  frozen  on  to 
the  smooth  steel  axle,  and  the  poor  beast  had  been  swung 
round  and  bumped  on  the  deck  at  every  revolution  of 
the  wheel.  At  last  it  actually  raised  its  head,  and  looked 
round  in  a  dazed  way.  It  had  made  a  good  many  revolu- 
tions, so  that  it  is  no  wonder  if  it  found  some  difficulty  in 
getting  its  bearings  at  first.  Then  it  raised  itself  on  its 
fore-paws,  and  I  took  it  aft  to  the  half-deck  and  stroked 
and  patted  it.  Soon  it  got  on  all  four  legs  again,  and 
began  shambling  about,  without  knowing  where  it  was 
going. 

" '  It  is  a  good  thing  it  v/as  caught  by  the  hair,'  said 
Bentzen,  '  I  thought  it  was  hanging  fast  by  its  tongue,  as 
the  other  one  did.'  Only  think  of  being  fixed  by  the 
tongue  to  a  revolving  axle — the  mere  notion  makes  one 
shudder !  I  took  the  poor  thing  down  into  the  saloon 
and  did  all  I  could  for  it.  It  soon  got  all  right  again, 
and  began  playing  with  its  companions  as  before.  A 
strange  life  to  rummage  about  on  deck  in  the  dark  and 
cold ;    but   whenever   one  goes   up  with   a   lantern  they 


JV£  PREPARE  FOR   THE  SLEDGE  EXPEDITION      7 

come  tearing  round,  stare  at  the  light,  and  begin  bound- 
ing and  dancing  and  gambolHng  with  each  other  round 
it,  hke  children  round  a  Christmas-tree.  This  goes  on 
day  after  day.  and  they  have  never  seen  anything  else 
than  this  deck  with  a  tarpaulin  over  it,  not  even  the  clear 
blue  sky ;  and  we  men  have  never  seen  anything  else 
than  this  earth ! 

"  The  last  step  over  the  bridge  of  resolution  has  now 
been  taken.  In  the  forenoon  I  explained  the  whole  mat- 
ter to  Johansen  in  pretty  much  the  same  terms  as  I  have 
used  above ;  and  then  I  expatiated  on  the  diflficulties  that 
might  occur,  and  laid  strong  emphasis  on  the  dangers 
one  must  be  prepared  to  encounter.  It  was  a  serious 
matter  —  a  matter  of  life  or  death  —  this  one  must  not 
conceal  from  one's  self.  He  must  think  the  thins  well 
over  before  determining  whether  he  would  accompany 
me  or  not.  If  he  was  willing  to  come  I  should  be  glad 
to  have  him  with  me ;  but  I  would  rather,  I  said,  he 
should  take  a  day  or  two  to  think  it  well  over  before  he 
gave  me  his  answer.  He  did  not  need  any  time  for  re- 
flection, he  said  ;  he  was  quite  willing  to  go.  Sverdrup 
had  long  ago  mentioned  the  possibility  of  such  an  expe- 
dition, and  he  had  thought  it  well  over,  and  made  up  his 
mind  that  if  my  choice  should  fall  on  him  he  would  take 
it  as  a  great  favor  to  be  permitted  to  accompany  me.  '  I 
don't  know  whether  you'll  be  satisfied  with  this  answer, 
or  whether  you  would  like  me  still  to  think  it  over; 
but  I  should  certainly  never  change  my  mind.'      '  No,  if 


8  FARTHEST  NORTH 

you  have  already  thought  it  seriously  over  —  thought 
what  risks  you  expose  yourself  to  —  the  chance,  for  in- 
stance, that  neither  of  us  may  ever  see  the  face  of  man 
again — and  if  you  have  reflected  that  even  if  we  get 
through  safe  and  sound  you  must  necessarily  face  a  great 
deal  of  hardship  on  an  expedition  like  this — if  you  have 
made  up  your  mind  to  all  this  I  don't  insist  on  your  re- 
flecting any  longer  about  it.'  '  Yes,  that  I  have.'  '  Well, 
then,  that  is  settled.  To-morrow  we  shall  begin  our 
preparations  for  the  trip.  Hansen  must  see  about  ap- 
pointing another  meteorological  assistant.' 

"  Tuesday,  November  20th.  This  evening  I  delivered 
an  address  to  the  whole  ship's  company,  in  which  I  an- 
nounced the  determination  that  had  been  arrived  at,  and 
explained  to  them  the  projected  expedition.  First  of  all, 
I  briefly  went  through  the  whole  theory  of  our  under- 
taking, and  its  history  from  the  beginning,  laying  stress 
on  the  idea  on  which  my  plans  had  been  built  up — namely, 
that  a  vessel  which  got  frozen  in  north  of  Siberia  must 
drift  across  the  Polar  Sea  and  out  into  the  Atlantic,  and 
must  pass  somewhere  or  other  north  of  Franz  Josef 
Land  and  between  it  and  the  Pole.  The  object  of 
the  expedition  was  to  accomplish  this  drift  across  the 
unknown  sea,  and  to  pursue  investigations  there.  I 
pointed  out  to  them  that  these  investigations  would 
be  of  equal  importance  whether  the  expedition  actually 
passed  across  the  Pole  itself  or  at  some  distance  from  it. 
Judging  from  our  experiences  hitherto,  we  could  not  en- 


WE  PREPARE  FOR    THE  SLEDGE  EXPEDITION    H 

tertain  any  doubt  that  the  expedition  would  solve  the 
problem  it  had  set  before  it ;  everything  had  up  to  the 
present  gone  according  to  our  anticipations,  and  it  was 
to  be  hoped  and  expected  that  this  would  continue  to 
be  the  case  for  the  remainder  of  the  voyage.  We  had, 
therefore,  every  prospect  of  accomplishing  the  principal 
part  of  our  task ;  but  then  the  question  arose  w^hether 
more  could  not  be  accomplished,  and  thereupon  I  pro- 
ceeded to  explain,  in  much  the  same  terms  as  I  have 
used  above,  how  this  might  be  effected  by  an  expedition 
northward. 

"  I  had  the  impression  that  every  one  was  deeply  in- 
terested in  the  projected  expedition,  and  that  they  all 
thought  it  most  desirable  that  it  should  be  attempted. 
The  greatest  objection,  I  think,  they  would  have  urged 
against  it,  had  they  been  asked,  would  have  been  that 
they  themselves  could  not  take  part  in  it.  I  impressed 
on  them,  however,  that  while  it  was  unquestionably  a 
fine  thing  to  push  on  as  far  as  possible  towards  the 
north,  it  was  no  whit  less  honorable  an  undertaking 
to  bring  the  Fram  safe  and  sound  right  through  the 
Polar  Sea,  and  out  on  the  other  side ;  or  if  not  the 
Fram,  at  all  events  themselves  without  any  loss  of  life. 
This  done,  we  might  say,  without  fear  of  contradiction, 
that  it  was  well  done.  I  think  they  all  saw  the  force 
of  this,  and  were  satisfied.  So  now  the  die  is  cast,  and 
I  must  believe  that  this  expedition  will  really  take  place." 

So  we  set  about  our  preparations  for  it  in  downright 


12  FARTHEST  NORTH 

earnest.  I  have  already  mentioned  that  at  the  end  of 
the  summer  I  had  begun  to  make  a  kayak  for  a  single 
man,  the  frame  of  which  was  of  bamboo  carefully  lashed  to- 
gether. It  was  rather  slow  work,  and  took  several  weeks, 
but  it  turned  out  both  light  and  strong.  When  com- 
pleted the  frame-work  weighed  i6  pounds.  It  was  after- 
wards covered  with  sail-cloth  by  Sverdrup  and  Blessing, 
when  the  whole  boat  weighed  30  pounds.  After  finishing 
this  I  had  intrusted  Mogstad  with  the  task  of  building  a 
similar  one.  Johansen  and  I  now  set  to  work  to  make  a 
cover  for  it.  These  kayaks  were  3.70  metres  (12  feet) 
long,  about  0.7  metre  (28  inches)  wide  in  the  middle, 
and  one  was  30  centims.  (12  inches)  and  the  other  38 
centims.  (15  inches)  deep.  This  is  considerably  shorter 
and  wider  than  an  ordinary  Eskimo  kayak,  and  conse- 
quently these  boats  were  not  so  light  to  propel  through 
the  water.  But  as  they  were  chiefly  intended  for  crossing 
over  channels  and  open  spaces  in  the  ice,  and  coasting 
along  possible  land,  speed  was  not  of  much  importance. 
The  great  thing  was  that  the  boats  should  be  strong  and 
light,  and  should  be  able  to  carry,  in  addition  to  ourselves, 
provisions  and  equipments  for  a  considerable  time.  If 
we  had  made  them  longer  and  narrower,  besides  being 
heavier  they  would  have  been  more  exposed  to  injury  in 
the  course  of  transport  over  the  uneven  ice.  As  they 
were  built  they  proved  admirably  adapted  for  our  purpose. 
When  we  loaded  them  with  care  we  could  stow  away  in 
them  provisions  and  equipment  for  three  months  at  least 


WE  PREPARE  FOR   THE  SLEDGE  EXPEDITION    13 

for  ourselves,  besides  a  good  deal  of  food  for  the  dogs; 
and  we  could,  moreover,  carry  a  dog  or  two  on  the  deck. 
In  other  respects  they  were  essentially  like  the  Eskimo 
kayaks,  full  decked,  save  for  an  aperture  in  the  middle 
for  a  man  to  sit  in.  This  aperture  was  encircled  by  a 
wooden  ring,  after  the  Eskimo  fashion,  over  which  we 
could  slip  the  lower  part  of  our  sealskin  jackets,  specially 
adjusted  for  this  purpose,  so  that  the  junction  between 
boat  and  jacket  was  water-tight.  When  these  jackets 
were  drawn  tight  round  the  wrists  and  face  the  sea  might 
sweep  right  over  us  without  a  drop  of  water  coming  into 
the  kayak.  We  had  to  provide  ourselves  with  such  boats 
in  case  of  having  to  cross  open  stretches  of  sea  on  our 
way  to  Spitzbergen,  or,  if  we  chose  the  other  route,  be- 
tween Franz  Josef  Land  and  Novaya  Zemlya.  Besides 
this  aperture  in  the  middle,  there  were  small  trap-doors 
fore  and  aft  in  the  deck,  to  enable  us  to  put  our  hands  in 
and  stow  the  provisions,  and  also  get  things  out  more 
readily,  without  having  to  take  out  all  the  freight  through 
the  middle  aperture,  in  case  what  we  wanted  lay  at  either 
extremity.  These  trap-doors,  however,  could  be  closed 
so  as  to  be  quite  water-tight.  To  make  the  canvas 
quite  impervious  to  water,  the  best  plan  would  have  been 
to  have  sized  it,  and  then  painted  it  externally  with  or- 
dinary oil  paint ;  but,  on  the  one  hand,  it  was  very  dif- 
ficult to  do  this  work  in  the  extreme  cold  (in  the  hold  the 
temperature  was  —20°  C,  — 4°  Fahr.),  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  I  was   afraid   the  paint  might   render  the  canvas 


14  FARTHEST  NORTH 

too  hard  and  brittle,  and  apt  to  have  holes  knocked  in  it 
during  transport  over  the  ice.  Therefore  I  preferred  to 
steep  it  in  a  mixture  of  paraffin  and  tallow,  which  added 
somewhat  to  the  weight  of  the  kayaks,  so  that  altogether 
they  came  to  weigh  about  36  pounds  apiece. 

I  had,  moreover,  some  hand -sledges  made  especially 
for  this  expedition ;  they  were  supple  and  strong,  de- 
signed to  withstand  the  severe  tests  to  which  an  expedi- 
tion with  dogs  and  heavy  freights  over  the  uneven  drift- 
ice  would  necessarily  expose  them.  Two  of  these  sledges 
were  about  the  same  length  as  the  kayaks — that  is,  12 
feet.  I  also  made  several  experiments  with  respect  to  the 
clothes  we  should  wear,  and  was  especially  anxious  to 
ascertain  whether  it  would  do  to  go  in  our  thick  wolfskin 
garments,  but  always  came  to  the  conclusion  that  they 
were  too  warm.  Thus,  on  November  29th  I  write : 
"  Took  another  walk  northward  in  my  wolfskin  dress ; 
but  it  is  still  too  mild  (  —  37.6°  C).  I  sweated  like  a  horse, 
though  I  went  fasting  and  quite  gently.  It  is  rather 
heavy  going  now  in  the  dark  when  one  cannot  use  snow- 
shoes.  I  wonder  when  it  will  be  cold  enough  to  use  this 
dress." 

On  December  9th  again  we  went  out  on  snow-shoes. 
"  It  was  — 41°  C,  (  —  41,8°  Fahr.).  Went  in  wolfskin  dress, 
but  the  perspiration  poured  down  our  backs  enough  to 
turn  a  mill.  Too  warm  yet ;  goodness  knows  if  it  ever 
will  be  cold  enough." 

Of  course,  we  made  some  experiments  with  the  tent 


WE  PREPARE  EOR   THE  SLEDGE  EXPEDITION    15 

and  with  the  cooking  apparatus.  On  December  7th  I 
write  :  "  I  pitched  the  silk  tent  we  are  going  to  take,  and 
used  our  cooking  apparatus  in  it.  From  repeated  trials 
it  appeared  that  from  ice  of  —35°  C.  (  — 31"^  Fahr.),  we 
boiled  3  litres  of  water  (5:^  pints),  and  at  the  same  time 
melted  5  litres  (8f  pints)  in  an  hour  and  a  half,  with  a 
consumption  of  about  120  grammes  of  snowfiake  petro- 
leum. Next  day  we  boiled  2\  litres  of  water  (over  4 
pints),  and  melted  2\  litres  in  one  hour  with  100  grammes 
of  snowflake  petroleum.  Yesterday  we  made  about  two 
litres  of  excellent  oatmeal  porridge,  and  at  the  same  time 
got  some  half-melted  ice  and  a  little  water  in  little  over  half 
an  hour,  with  50  grammes  of  snowflake  petroleum.  Thus 
there  will  be  no  very  great  consumption  of  fuel  in  the  day." 

Then  I  made  all  kinds  of  calculations  and  computa- 
tions in  order  to  find  out  what  would  be  the  most  advan- 
tageous kind  of  provisions  for  our  expedition,  where  it 
was  of  the  greatest  moment  that  the  food  both  for  does 
and  men  should  be  nutritious,  and  yet  should  not  weigh 
more  than  was  absolutely  necessary.  Later  on,  in  the 
list  of  our  equipments,  I  shall  give  the  final  result  of  my 
deliberations  on  this  matter.  Besides  all  this,  we  had,  of 
course,  to  consider  and  test  the  instruments  to  be  taken 
with  us,  and  to  go  into  many  other  matters,  which,  though 
perhaps  trifles  in  themselves,  were  yet  absolutely  neces- 
sary. It  is  on  the  felicitous  combination  of  all  these 
trifles  that  ultimate  success  depends. 

We    two   passed   the  greater  portion  of  our  time  in 


1 6  FARTHEST  NORTH 

these  preparations,  which  also  kept  many  of  the  others 
pretty  busy  during  the  winter.  Mogstad,  for  instance, 
found  steady  employment  in  making  sledges  and  fitting 
them  with  runners,  etc.  Sverdrup  busied  himself  in 
making  sleeping-bags  and  many  other  things.  Juell  was 
appointed  dog-tailor,  and  when  he  was  not  busy  in  the 
galley,  his  time  was  devoted  to  taking  the  measurements 
of  the  dogs,  making  harness  for  them  and  testing  it. 
Blessing,  too,  fitted  up  for  us  a  small,  light  medicine-chest, 
containing  selected  drugs,  bandages,  and  such  other  things 
as  might  be  of  use.  One  man  was  constantly  employed 
in  copying  out  all  our  journals  and  scientific  observations, 
etc.,  etc.,  on  thin  paper  in  a  contracted  form,  as  I  wanted, 
by  way  of  doubly  assuring  their  preservation,  to  take  a 
copy  of  them  along  with  me.  Hansen  was  occupied  in 
preparing  tabular  forms  necessary  for  our  observations, 
curves  of  the  movement  of  our  chronometers,  and  other 
such  things.  Besides  this,  he  was  to  make  a  complete 
chart  of  our  voyage  and  drifting  up  to  the  present  time. 

I  could  not,  however,  lay  too  great  a  claim  on  his 
valuable  time,  as  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  con- 
tinue his  scientific  observations  without  interruption. 
During  this  autumn  he  had  greatly  increased  the  com- 
fort of  his  work  by  building,  along  with  Johansen,  an 
observation-hut  of  snow,  not  unlike  an  Eskimo  cabin. 
He  found  himself  very  much  at  his  ease  in  it,  with  a 
petroleum  lamp  hanging  from  the  roof,  the  light  of  which, 
being  reflected  by  the  white  snow  walls,  made  quite  a 


^ 


JV£  PREPARE  EOR   THE  SLEDGE  EXPEDITION    1 9 

brilliant  show.  Here  he  could  manipulate  his  instru- 
ments quietly  and  comfortably,  undisturbed  by  the 
biting  wind  outside.  He  thought  it  quite  warm  there, 
too,  when  he  could  get  the  temperature  up  to  something 
like  20°  below  freezing-point,  so  that  he  was  able  without 
much  inconvenience  to  adjust  his  instruments  with  bare 
hands.  Here  he  worked  away  indefatigably  at  his  ob- 
servations day  after  day,  watching  the  often  mysterious 
movements  of  the  magnetic  needle,  which  would  some- 
times give  him  no  end  of  trouble.  One  day — it  was  No- 
vember 24th — he  came  into  supper  a  little  after  6  o'clock 
quite  alarmed  and  said,  "There  has  just  been  a  singular 
inclination  of  the  needle  to  24°,  and,  remarkably  enough, 
its  northern  extremity  pointed  to  the  east.  I  cannot  re- 
member ever  having  heard  of  such  an  inclination."  He 
also  had  several  others  of  about  15°.  At  the  same  time, 
through  the  opening  into  his  observatory  he  noticed  that 
it  was  unusually  light  out-of-doors,  and  that  not  only  the 
ship,  but  the  ice  in  the  distance,  was  as  plainly  visible  as 
if  it  had  been  full  moonlight.  No  aurora,  however,  could 
be  discerned  through  the  thick  clouds  that  covered  the 
sky.  It  would  appear,  then,  that  this  unusual  inclination 
was  in  some  way  connected  with  the  northern  lights, 
though  it  was  to  the  east  and  not  to  the  west,  as  usual. 
There  could  be  no  question  of  any  disturbance  of  the 
floe  on  which  we  were  lying;  for  everything  had  been 
perfectly  still  and  quiet,  and  it  is  inconceivable  that  a 
disturbance  which  could  cause  such  a  remarkable  oscilla- 


20  FARTHEST  NORTH 

tion  of  two  points  and  back  again  in  so  short  a  space 
of  time  should  not  have  been  noticed  and  heard  on 
board.  This  theory,  therefore,  is  entirely  excluded,  and 
the  whole  matter  seems  to  me,  for  the  present,  to  be 
incomprehensible.  Blessing  and  I  at  once  went  on  deck 
to  look  at  the  sky.  Certainly  it  was  so  light  that  we 
could  see  the  lanes  in  the  ice  astern  quite  plainly ;  but 
there  was  nothing  remarkable  in  that,  it  happened  often 
enough. 

"  Friday,  November  30th.  I  found  a  bear's  track  on 
the  ice  in  front  of  our  bow.  The  bear  had  come  from  the 
east,  trotting  very  gently  along  the  lane,  on  the  newly 
frozen  ice,  but  he  must  have  been  scared  by  something  or 
other  ahead  of  the  vessel,  as  he  had  gone  off  again  with 
Ions  strides  in  the  same  direction  in  which  he  had  come. 
Strange  that  living  creatures  should  be  roaming  about  in 
this  desert.  What  can  they  have  to  do  here  ?  If  only 
one  had  such  a  stomach  one  could  at  least  stand  a 
journey  to  the  Pole  and  back  without  a  meal.  We  shall 
probably  have  him  back  again  soon  —  that  is,  if  I  un- 
derstand his  nature  aright  —  and  then  perhaps  he  will 
come  a  little  closer,  so  that  we  may  have  a  good  look  at 
him.* 

"  I  paced  the  lane  in  front  of  the  port  bow.  It  was 
348  paces  across,  and  maintained  the  same  width  for  a 
considerable   distance    eastward ;    nor   can    it    be    much 

*  He  did  not  return,  after  all. 


WE   PREPARE  EOR   THE  SLEDGE  EXPEDmON    21 

narrower  for  a  great  distance  to  the  west.  Now,  when 
one  bears  in  mind  that  the  lane  behind  us  is  also  of 
considerable  width,  it  is  rather  consoling,  after  all,  to 
think  that  the  ice  does  permit  of  such  large  openings. 
There  must  be  room  enough  to  drift,  if  we  only  get  wind 
— wind  which  will  never  come.  On  the  whole,  November 
has  been  an  uncommonly  wretched  month.  Driven  back 
instead  of  forward — and  yet  this  month  was  so  good  last 
year.  But  one  can  never  rely  on  the  seasons  in  this 
dreadful  sea ;  taking  all  in  all,  perhaps,  the  winter  will  not 
be  a  bit  better  than  the  summer.  Yet,  it  surely  must 
improve — I  cannot  believe  otherwise. 

"  The  skies  are  clouded  with  a  thick  veil,  through 
which  the  stars  barely  glisten.  It  is  darker  than  usual, 
and  in  this  eternal  night  we  drift  about,  lonely  and  for- 
saken, '  for  the  whole  world  was  filled  with  a  shining 
light  and  undisturbed  activity.  Above  those  men  alone 
brooded  nought  but  depressing  night — an  image  of  that 
gloom  which  was  soon  to  swallow  them  up.' 

"  This  dark,  deep,  silent  void  is  like  the  mysterious,  un- 
fathomable well  into  which  you  look  for  that  something 
which  you  think  must  be  there,  only  to  meet  the  reflec- 
tion of  your  own  eyes.  Ugh!  the  worn-out  thoughts  you 
can  never  get  rid  of  become  in  the  end  very  wearisome 
company.  Is  there  no  means  of  fleeing  from  one's  self, 
to  grasp  one  single  thought  —  only  a  single  one,  which 
lies  outside  one's  self  —  is  there  no  way  except  death.'* 
But  death   is  certain ;   one  day  it  will   come,  silent  and 


22  FARTHEST  NORTH 

majestic ;  it  will  open  Nirvana's  mighty  portal,  and  we 
shall  be  swept  away  into  the  sea  of  eternity. 

"  Sunday,  December  2d,  Sverdrup  has  now  been  ill 
for  some  days;  during  the  last  day  or  two  he  has  been  laid 
up  in  his  berth,  and  is  still  there.  I  trust  it  is  nothing 
serious ;  he  himself  thinks  nothing  of  it,  nevertheless  it  is 
very  disquieting.  Poor  fellow,  he  lives  entirely  on  oat- 
meal gruel.  It  is  an  intestinal  catarrh,  which  he  probably 
contracted  through  catching  cold  on  the  ice.  I  am  afraid 
he  has  been  rather  careless  in  this  respect.  However,  he 
is  now  improving,  so  that  probably  it  will  soon  pass  off ; 
but  it  is  a  warning  not  to  be  over-confident.  I  went  for  a 
long  walk  this  morning  along  the  lane ;  it  is  quite  a  large 
one,  extending  a  good  way  to  the  east,  and  being  of  con- 
siderable breadth  at  some  points.  It  is  only  after  walk- 
ing for  a  while  on  the  new^ly  frozen  ice,  where  walking 
is  as  easy  and  comfortable  as  on  a  well  -  trodden  path, 
and  then  coming  up  to  the  snow-covered  surface  of  the 
old  ice  again,  that  one  thoroughly  appreciates  for  the 
first  time  what  it  means  to  go  without  snow-shoes ;  the 
difference  is  something  marvellous.  Even  if  I  have  not 
felt  warm  before,  I  break  out  into  a  perspiration  after 
going  a  short  distance  over  the  rough  ice.  But  what 
can  one  do  ?  One  cannot  use  snow-shoes ;  it  is  so  dark 
that  it  is  difficult  enough  to  grope  one's  way  about  with 
ordinary  boots,  and  even  then  one  stumbles  about  or 
slips  down  between  great  blocks  of  ice. 

"  I    am    now  reading   the  various    English   stories  of 


IV£  PREPARE  FOR   THE  SLEDGE  EXPEDITION    23 

the  polar  expeditions  during  the  Franklin  period,  and 
the  search  for  him,  and  I  must  admit  I  am  filled  with 
admiration  for  these  men  and  the  amount  of  labor  they 
expended.  The  English  nation,  truly,  has  cause  to  be 
proud  of  them.  I  remember  reading  these  stories  as  a 
lad,  and  all  my  boyish  fancies  were  strangely  thrilled 
with  longing  for  the  scener}^  and  the  scenes  which  were 
displayed  before  me.  I  am  reading  them  now  as  a 
man,  after  having  had  a  little  experience  myself;  and 
now,  when  my  mind  is  uninfluenced  by  romance,  I  bow 
in  admiration.  There  w^as  grit  in  men  like  Parry,  Frank- 
lin, James  Ross,  Richardson,  and  last,  but  not  least,  in 
M'Clintock,  and,  indeed,  in  all  the  rest.  How  well  was 
their  equipment  thought  out  and  arranged,  with  the 
means  they  had  at  their  disposal !  Truly,  there  is  noth- 
ing new  under  the  sun.  Most  of  what  I  prided  myself 
upon,  and  what  I  thought  to  be  new,  I  find  they  had 
anticipated.  M'Clintock  used  the  same  thing  forty 
years  ago.  It  was  not  their  fault  that  they  were  born 
in  a  country  where  the  use  of  snow-shoes  is  unknown, 
and  where  snow  is  scarcely  to  be  found  throughout  the 
whole  winter.  Nevertheless,  despite  the  fact  that  they 
had  to  gain  their  experience  of  snow  and  snow  travel 
during  their  sojourn  up  here ;  despite  the  fact  that  they 
were  without  snow-shoes  and  had  to  toil  on  as  best 
they  could  with  sledges  with  narrow  runners  over  uneven 
snow -covered  drift-ice  —  what  distances  did  they  not 
cover,  what  fatigues  and  trials  did  they  not  endure !     No 


24  FARTHEST  NORTH 

one  has  surpassed  and  scarcely  any  one  approached 
them,  unless,  perhaps,  the  Russians  on  the  Siberian 
coast;  but  then  they  have  the  great  advantage  of  being 
natives  of  a  country  where  snow  is  not  uncommon. 

"Friday,  December  14th.  Yesterday  we  held  a  great 
festivity  in  honor  of  the  Fram  as  being  the  vessel 
which  has  attained  the  highest  latitude  (the  day  before 
yesterday  we  reached  82°  30'  north  latitude). 

"The  bill  of  fare  at  dinner  was  boiled  mackerel,  with 
parsely-butter  sauce;  pork  cutlets  and  French  pease;  Nor- 
wegian wild  strawberries,  with  rice  and  milk ;  Crown  malt 
extract;  afterwards  coffee.  For  supper:  new  bread  and 
currant  cake,  etc.,  etc.  Later  in  the  evening,  a  grand 
concert.  Sweets  and  preserved  pears  were  handed  round. 
The  culminating  point  of  the  entertainment  was  reached 
when  a  steaming  hot  and  fragrant  bowl  of  cherry-punch 
was  carried  in  and  served  round  among  general  hilarity. 
Our  spirits  were  already  very  high,  but  this  gave  color  to 
the  whole  proceedings.  The  greatest  puzzle  to  most  of 
them  was  where  the  ingredients  for  the  punch,  and  more 
particularly  the  alcohol,  had  come  from.* 

"  Then  followed  the  toasts.  First,  a  long  and  festive 
one  to  '  The  Fram',  which  had  now  shown  what  she  was 
capable  of.  It  ran  somewhat  to  this  effect :  '  There  were 
many  wise  men  who  shook  their  heads  when  we  started, 
and  sent  us  ominous  farewell  greetings.     But  their  head- 

*  We  had  used  for  this  purpose  our  pure  grape-spirit. 


IF£  PREPARE  FOR  THE  SLEDGE  EXPEDITION    25 

shakings  would  have  been  less  vigorous  and  their  evil 
forebodings  milder  if  they  could  have  seen  us  at  this 
moment,  drifting  quietly  and  at  our  ease  across  the  most 
northerly  latitudes  ever  attained  by  any  vessel,  and  still 
farther  northward.  And  the  Fram  is  now  not  only  the 
most  northerly  vessel  on  the  globe,  but  has  already 
passed  over  a  large  expanse  of  hitherto  unknown  regions, 
many  degrees  farther  north  than  have  ever  been  reached 
in  this  ocean  on  this  side  of  the  Pole.  But  we  hope  she 
will  not  stop  here  ;  concealed  behind  the  mist  of  the 
future  there  are  many  triumphs  in  store  for  us — triumphs 
which  will  dawn  upon  us  one  by  one  when  their  time  has 
come.  But  we  will  not  speak  of  this  now ;  we  will  be 
content  with  what  has  hitherto  been  achieved,  and  I 
believe  that  the  promise  implied  in  Bjornson's  greeting 
to  us  and  to  the  Fram,  when  she  was  launched,  has 
already  been  fulfilled,  and  with  him  we  can  exclaim  : 

"'"Hurrah  for  the  ship  and  her  voyage  dread! 
Where  never  before  a  keel  has  sped. 
Where  never  before  a  name  was  spoken, 
By  Norway's  name  is  the  silence  broken.' " 

'"We  could  not  help  a  peculiar  feeling,  almost  akin 
to  shame,  when  comparing  the  toil  and  privation,  and 
frequently  incredible  sufferings,  undergone  by  our  pred- 
ecessors in  earlier  expeditions  with  the  easy  manner  in 
which  we  are  drifting  across  unknown  expanses  of  our 
globe  larger  than  it  has  been  the  lot  of  most,  if  not  all, 
of  the  former  polar  explorers  to  travel  over  at  a  stretch. 


26  FARTHEST  NORTH 

Yes,  truly,  I  think  we  have  every  reason  to  be  satisfied 
with  our  voyage  so  far  and  with  the  Fram,  and  I  trust  we 
shall  be  able  to  bring  something  back  to  Norway  in  return 
for  the  trust,  the  sympathy,  and  the  money  which  she  has 
expended  on  us.  But  let  us  not  on  this  account  forget  our 
predecessors;  let  us  admire  them  for  the  way  in  which 
they  struggled  and  endured ;  let  us  remember  that  it  is 
only  through  their  labors  and  achievements  that  the  way 
has  been  prepared  for  the  present  voyage.  It  is  owing 
to  their  collective  experience  that  man  has  now  got  so 
far  as  to  be  able  to  cope  to  some  extent  with  what  has 
hitherto  been  his  most  dangerous  and  obstinate  enemy  in 
the  Arctic  regions — viz.,  the  drift-ice — and  to  do  so  by  the 
very  simple  expedient  of  going  with  it  and  not  against  it, 
and  allowing  one's  self  to  be  hemmed  in  by  it,  not  invol- 
untarily, but  intentionally,  and  preparing  for  it  beforehand. 
On  board  this  vessel  we  try  to  cull  the  fruits  of  all  our 
predecessors'  experiences.  It  has  taken  years  to  collect 
them ;  but  I  felt  that  with  these  I  should  be  enabled 
to  face  any  vicissitude  of  fate  in  unknown  waters.  I 
think  we  have  been  fortunate.  I  think  we  are  all  of 
the  opinion  that  there  is  no  imaginable  difficulty  or  ob- 
stacle before  us  that  we  ought  not  to  be  able  to  overcome 
with  the  means  and  resources  we  possess  on  board,  and 
be  thus  enabled  to  return  at  last  to  Norway  safe  and 
sound,  with  a  rich  harvest.  Therefore  let  us  drink  a 
bumper  to  the  FramP 

"  Next  there  followed  some  musical  items  and  a  per- 


WE  PREPARE  FOR  THE  SLEDGE  EXPEDmON    27 

formance  by  Lars,  the  smith,  who  danced  a  pas  seitl,  to  the 
great  amusement  of  the  company.  Lars  assured  us  that 
if  he  ever  reached  home  again  and  were  present  at  a 
sratherino:  similar  to  those  held  atChristiania  and  Bersen  on 
our  departure,  his  legs  should  be  taxed  to  their  uttermost. 
This  was  followed  by  a  toast  to  those  at  home  who  were 
waiting  for  us  year  after  year,  not  knowing  where  to  picture 
us  in  thought,  who  were  vainly  yearning  for  tidings  of  us, 
but  whose  faith  in  us  and  our  voyage  was  still  firm — 
to  those  who  consented  to  our  departure,  and  who  may 
well  be  said  to  have  made  the  greatest  sacrifice. 

"  The  festivity  continued  with  music  and  merriment 
throughout  the  evenino',  and  our  orood  humor  was  certain- 
ly  not  spoiled  when  our  excellent  doctor  came  forward 
with  cigars — a  commodity  which  is  getting  highly  valued 
up  here,  as,  unfortunately  it  is  becoming  very  scarce.  The 
only  cloud  in  our  existence  is  that  Sverdrup  has  not  yet 
quite  recovered  from  his  catarrh.  He  must  keep  strict 
diet,  and  this  does  not  at  all  suit  him,  poor  fellow!  He 
is  only  allowed  wheaten  bread,  milk,  raw  bear's  fiesh,  and 
oatmeal  porridge  ;  whereas  if  he  had  his  own  way  he 
would  eat  everything,  including  cake,  preserves,  and 
fruit.  But  he  has  returned  to  duty  now,  and  has  already 
been  out  for  a  turn  on  the  ice. 

"  It  was  late  at  night  when  I  retired  to  my  cabin,  but 
I  was  not  yet  in  a  fit  mood  to  go  to  sleep.  I  felt  I  must 
go  out  and  saunter  in  the  wonderful  moonlight.  Around 
the  moon  there  was,  as  usual,  a  large  ring,  and  above  it 


28  FARTHEST  NORTH 

there  was  an  arc,  which  just  touched  it  at  the  upper  edge, 
but  the  two  ends  of  which  curved  downward  instead  of 
upward.  It  looked  as  if  it  were  part  of  a  circle  whose 
centre  was  situated  far  below  the  moon.  At  the  lower 
edge  of  the  ring  there  was  a  large  mock  moon,  or,  rath- 
er, a  large  luminous  patch,  which  was  most  pronounced 
at  the  upper  part,  where  it  touched  the  ring,  and  had  a 
yellow  upper  edge,  from  which  it  spread  downward  in 
the  form  of  a  triangle.  It  looked  as  if  it  might  be  an  arc 
of  a  circle  on  the  lower  side  of,  and  in  contact  with,  the 
ring.  Right  across  the  moon  there  were  drifting  several 
luminous  cirrhus  streaks.  The  whole  produced  a  fan- 
tastic effect. 

"Saturday,  December  2 2d.  The  same  southeasterly 
wind  has  turned  into  a  regular  storm,  howling  and  rat- 
tling cheerily  through  the  rigging,  and  we  are  doubtless 
drifting  northward  at  a  good  rate.  If  I  go  outside  the 
tent  on  deck,  the  wind  whistles  round  my  ears,  and  the 
snow  beats  into  my  face,  and  I  am  soon  covered  with  it. 
From  the  snow-hut  observatory,  or  even  at  a  lesser  dis- 
tance, the  Frani  is  invisible,  and  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  keep  one's  eyes  open,  owing  to  the  blinding  snow.  I 
wonder  whether  we  have  not  passed  83°.''  But  I  am 
afraid  this  joy  will  not  be  a  lasting  one ;  the  barometer 
has  fallen  alarmingly,  and  the  wind  has  generally  been 
up  to  13  or  14  metres  (44  or  50  feet)  per  second.  About 
half-past  twelve  last  night  the  vessel  suddenly  received  a 
strong  pressure,  rattling  everything   on   board.     I  could 


y  " 


WE  PREPARE  FOR  THE  SLEDGE  EXPEDITION   29 

feel  the  vibration  under  me  for  a  long  time  afterwards 
while  lying  in  my  berth.  Finally,  I  could  hear  the  roar- 
ing and  grating  caused  by  the  ice-pressure.  I  told  the 
watch  to  listen  carefully,  and  ascertain  where  the  press- 
ure was,  and  to  notice  whether  the  floe  on  which  we 
were  lying  was  likely  to  crack,  and  whether  any  part  of 
our  equipment  was  in  danger.  He  thought  he  could 
hear  the  noise  of  ice-pressure  both  forward  and  aft,  but 
it  w^as  not  easy  to  distinguish  it  from  the  roar  of  the 
tempest  in  the  rigging.  To-day  about  12.30  p.m.  the 
Franz  received  another  violent  shock,  even  stronger  than 
that  we  had  experienced  during  the  night.  There  was 
another  shake  a  little  later;  I  suppose  there  has  been 
a  pressure  aft,  but  could  hear  nothing  for  the  storm. 
It  is  odd  about  this  pressure:  one  would  think  that  the 
wind  was  the  primary  cause ;  but  it  recurs  pretty  regu- 
larly, notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  spring -tide  has 
not  yet  set  in ;  indeed,  when  it  commenced  a  few  days 
ago  it  was  almost  a  neap-tide.  In  addition  to  the  press- 
ure of  yesterday  and  last  night,  we  had  pressure  on 
Thursday  morning  at  half -past  nine  and  again  at  half- 
past  eleven.  It  was  so  strong  that  Peter,  who  was  at 
the  sounding-hole,  jumped  up  repeatedly,  thinking  that 
the  ice  would  burst  underneath  him.  It  is  very  singular, 
we  have  been  quiet  for  so  long  now  that  we  feel  almost 
nervous  when  the  Frani  receives  those  shocks;  every- 
thing seems  to  tremble  as  if  in  a  violent  earthquake. 
"  Sunday,  December  23d.     Wind  still  unchanged,  and 


30  FARTHEST  NORTH 

blowing  equally  fresh,  up  to  13  or  14  metres  (44  or  47 
feet).  The  snow  is  drifting  and  sweeping  so  that  noth- 
ing can  be  distinguished ;  the  darkness  is  intense.  Abaft 
on  the  deck  there  are  deep  mounds  of  snow  lying  round 
the  wheel  and  the  rails,  so  that  when  we  go  up  on  deck 
we  get  a  genuine  sample  of  an  Arctic  winter.  The 
outlook  is  enough  to  make  you  shudder,  and  feel  grate- 
ful that  instead  of  having  to  turn  out  in  such  weather, 
you  may  dive  back  again  into  the  tent,  and  down  the 
companionway  into  your  warm  bunk ;  but  soon,  no  doubt, 
Johansen  and  I  will  have  to  face  it  out,  day  and  night, 
even  in  such  weather  as  this,  whether  we  like  it  or 
not.  This  morning  Pettersen,  who  has  had  charge  of 
the  dogs  this  week,  came  down  to  the  saloon  and  asked 
whether  some  one  would  come  out  with  him  on  the  ice 
with  a  rifle,  as  he  was  sure  there  was  a  bear.  Peter  and 
I  went,  but  we  could  not  find  anything.  The  dogs  left 
off  barking  when  we  arrived  on  the  scene,  and  com- 
menced to  play  with  each  other.  But  Pettersen  was  right 
in  saying  that  it  was  'horrid  weather,'  it  was  almost  enough 
to  take  away  one's  breath  to  face  the.  wind,  and  the  drift- 
ing snow  forced  its  way  into  the  mouth  and  nostrils.  The 
vessel  could  not  be  distinguished  beyond  a  few  paces,  so 
that  it  was  not  advisable  to  go  any  distance  away  from  her, 
and  it  was  very  difficult  to  walk ;  for,  what  with  snow-drifts 
and  ice-mounds,  at  one  moment  you  stumbled  against 
the  frozen  edge  of  a  snow-drift,  at  another  you  tumbled 
into   a  hole.      It  was    pitch-dark    all    round.      The    ba- 


WE  PREPARE  EOR   THE   SLEDGE  EXPEDITION    31 

rometer  had  been  falling  steadily  and  rapidly,  but  at 
last  it  has  commenced  to  rise  slightly.  It  now  registers 
about  726  mm.  (28.6  inches).  The  thermometer,  as  usual, 
is  describing  the  inverse  curve.  In  the  afternoon  it  rose 
steadily  until  it  registered  —21.3°  C.  Now  it  appears  to 
be  falling  again  a  little,  but  the  wind  still  keeps  exactly 
in  the  same  quarter.  It  has  surely  shifted  us  by  now  a 
good  way  to  the  north,  well  beyond  the  83d  degree.  It 
is  quite  pleasant  to  hear  the  wind  whistling  and  rattling 
in  the  rigging  overhead.  Alas!  we  know  that  all  terres- 
trial bliss  is  short-lived. 

"About  midnight  the  mate,  who  has  the  watch,  comes 
down  and  reports  that  the  ice  has  cracked  just  beyond  the 
thermometer  house,  between  it  and  the  sounding- hole. 
This  is  the  same  crack  that  we  had  in  the  summer, 
and  it  has  now  burst  open  again,  and  probably  the 
whole  floe  in  which  we  are  lying  is  split  from  the  lane 
ahead  to  the  lane  astern  of  us.  The  thermograph 
and  other  instruments  are  being  brought  on  board,  so 
that  we  may  run  no  risk  of  losing  them  in  the  event 
of  pressure  of  ice.  But  otherwise  there  is  scarcely 
anything  that  could  be  endangered.  The  sounding  ap- 
paratus is  at  some  distance  from  the  open  channel,  on 
the  other  side.  The  only  thing  left  there  is  the  shears 
with  the  iron  block  standing  over  the  hole. 

"Thursday,  December  27th.  Christmas  has  come 
round  again,  and  we  are  still  so  far  from  home.  How 
dismal  it  all  is  !     Nevertheless,  I  am  not  melancholy.     I 


32  FARTHEST  NORTH 

might  rather  say  I  ani  glad ;  I  feel  as  if  awaiting  some- 
thing great  which  lies  hidden  in  the  future ;  after  long 
hours  of  uncertainty  I  can  now  discern  the  end  of 
this  dark  night;  I  have  no  doubt  all  will  turn  out  suc- 
cessfully, that  the  voyage  is  not  in  vain  and  the  time 
not  wasted,  and  that  our  hopes  will  be  realized.  An 
explorers  lot  is,  perhaps,  hard  and  his  life  full  of  dis- 
appointments, as  they  all  say ;  but  it  is  also  full  of  beau- 
tiful moments — moments  when  he  beholds  the  triumphs 
of  human  faith  and  human  will,  when  he  catches  sight 
of  the  haven  of  success  and  peace. 

"  I  am  in  a  singular  frame  of  mind  just  now,  in  a 
state  of  sheer  unrest.  I  have  not  felt  inclined  for  writing 
during  the  last  few  days ;  thoughts  come  and  go,  and 
carry  me  irresistibly  ahead.  I  can  scarcely  make  myself 
out,  but  who  can  fathom  the  depths  of  the  human  mind. 
The  brain  is  a  puzzling  piece  of  mechanism :  '  We  are 
such  stuff  as  dreams  are  made  of.'  Is  it  so  ?  I  almost 
believe  it — a  microcosm  of  eternity's  infinite  '  stuff  that 
dreams  are  made  of.' 

"  This  is  the  second  Christmas  spent  far  away  in  the 
solitude  of  night,  in  the  realm  of  death,  farther  north 
and  deeper  into  the  midst  of  it  than  any  one  has  been 
before.  There  is  something  strange  in  the  feeling ;  and 
then  this,  too,  is  our  last  Christmas  on  board  the  Franz. 
It  makes  one  almost  sad  to  think  of  it.  The  vessel  is 
like  a  second  home,  and  has  become  dear  to  us.  Per- 
haps our  comrades  may  spend  another  Christmas  here, 


WE  PREPARE  POP   THE  SLEDGE  EXPEDITION    33 

possibly  several,  without  us  who  will  go  forth  from 
them  into  the  midst  of  the  solitude.  This  Christmas 
passed  off  quietly  and  pleasantly,  and  every  one  seems 
to  be  well  content.  By  no  means  the  least  circumstance 
that  added  to  our  enjoyment  was  that  the  wind  brought 
us  the  83d  degree  as  a  Christmas-box.  Our  luck  was, 
this  time,  more  lasting  than  I  had  anticipated ;  the  wind 
continued  fresh  on  Monday  and  Tuesday,  but  little  by 
little  it  lulled  down  and  veered  round  to  the  north  and 
northeast.  Yesterday  and  to  -  day  it  has  been  in  the 
northwest.  Well,  we  must  put  up  with  it;  one  cannot 
help  having  a  little  contrary  wind  at  times,  and  probably 
it  will  not  last  long. 

"  Christmas-eve  was,  of  course,  celebrated  with  great 
feasting.  The  table  presented  a  truly  imposing  array  of 
Christmas  confectionery  :  '  Poor  man's  '  pastry,  '  Stag- 
horn  '  pastry,  honey-cakes,  macaroons,  '  Sister '  cake,  and 
what  not,  besides  sweets  and  the  like ;  many  may  have 
fared  worse.  Moreover,  Blessing  and  I  had  worked 
during  the  day  in  the  sweat  of  our  brow  and  produced  a 
'  Polar  Champagne  83d  Degree,'  which  made  a  sensation, 
and  which  we  two,  at  least,  believed  we  had  every  reason 
to  be  proud  of,  being  a  product  derived  from  the  noble 
grape  of  the  polar  regions — viz.,  the  cloudberry  imulter). 
The  others  seemed  to  enjoy  it  too,  and,  of  course,  many 
toasts  were  drunk  in  this  noble  beverage.  Quantities  of 
illustrated  books  were  then  brought  forth ;  there  was 
music,  and  stories,  and  songs,  and  general  merriment. 
n.-3 


34  FARTHEST  NORTH 

"On  Christmas  ■  day,  of  course,  we  had  a  special 
dinner.  After  dinner  coffee  and  cura9oa  made  here  on 
board,  and  Nordahl  then  came  forward  with  Russian 
cigarettes.  At  night  a  bowl  of  cloudberry  punch  was 
served  out,  which  did  not  seem  by  any  means  unwelcome. 
Mogstad  played  the  violin,  and  Pettersen  was  electrified 
thereby  to  such  a  degree  that  he  sang  and  danced  to  us. 
He  really  exhibits  considerable  talent  as  a  comedian, 
and  has  a  decided  bent  towards  the  ballet.  It  is  aston- 
ishing what  versatility  he  displays :  engineer,  blacksmith, 
tinsmith,  cook,  master  of  ceremonies,  comedian,  dancer, 
and,  last  of  all,  he  has  come  out  in  the  capacity  of  a 
first-class  barber  and  hair-dresser.  There  was  a  grand 
'ball'  at  night;  Mogstad  had  to  play  till  the  perspira- 
tion poured  from  him ;  Hansen  and  I  had  to  figure  as 
ladies.  Pettersen  was  indefatigable.  He  faithfully  and 
solemnly  vowed  that  if  he  has  a  pair  of  boots  to  his  feet 
when  he  gets  home  he  will  dance  as  long  as  the  soles 
hold  together. 

"  Day  after  day,  as  we  progressed  with  a  rattling 
wind,  first  from  S.E.  and  later  on  E.S.E.  and  E.,  we 
felt  more  anxious  to  know  how  far  we  had  got;  biit 
there  had  always  been  a  snow  -  storm  or  a  cloudy  sky, 
so  that  we  could  not  make  any  observations.  We  were 
all  confident  that  we  must  have  got  a  long  way  up 
north,  but  how  far  beyond  the  83d  degree  no  one  could 
tell.  Suddenly  Hansen  was  called  on  deck  this  after- 
noon by  the  news  that  the  stars  were  visible  overhead. 


< 


WE  PREPARE  FOR  THE  SLEDGE  EXPEDITION    37 

All  were  on  the  tiptoe  of  expectation.  But  when  he 
came  down  he  had  only  observed  one  star,  which,  how- 
ever, was  so  near  the  meridian  that  he  could  calculate 
that,  at  any  rate,  we  were  north  of  '^'^  id  north 
latitude,  and  this  communication  was  received  with 
shouts  of  joy.  If  we  were  not  yet  in  the  most  northerly 
latitude  ever  reached  by  man,  we  were,  at  all  events, 
not  far  from  it.  This  was  more  than  we  had  expected, 
and  we  were  in  high  spirits.  Yesterday,  being  'the 
Second  Christmas-day,'  of  course,  both  on  this  account 
and  because  it  was  JuelFs  birthday,  we  had  a  special 
dinner,  with  oxtail  soup,  pork  cutlets,  red  whortle- 
berry preserve,  cauliflowers,  fricandeau,  potatoes,  pre- 
served currants,  also  pastry,  and  a  wonderful  iced- 
almond  cake  with  the  words  '  Glaedelig  Jul '  (A  Merry 
Christmas)  on  it,  from  Hansen,  baker,  Christiania,  and 
then  malt  extract.  We  cannot  complain  that  we  are 
faring  badly  here.  About  4  o'clock  this  morning  the 
vessel  received  a  violent  shock  which  made  everything 
tremble,  but  no  noise  of  ice-packing  was  to  be  heard. 
At  about  half-past  five  I  heard  at  intervals  the  crack- 
ling and  crunching  of  the  pack-ice  which  was  surging  in 
the  lane  ahead.  At  night  similar  noises  were  also  heard ; 
otherwise  the  ice  was  quiet,  and  the  crack  on  the  port- 
side  has  closed  up  tight  again. 

"  Friday,  December  28th.  I  went  out  in  the  morning 
to  have  a  look  at  the  crack  on  the  port  side  which  has 
now  widened  out  so    as    to    form    an    open    lane.      Of 


38  FARTHEST  NORTH 

course,  all  the  dogs  followed  me,  and  I  had  not  got  far 
when  I  saw  a  dark  form  disappear.  This  was  '  Pan,'  who 
rolled  down  the  high  steep  edge  of  the  ice  and  fell  into 
the  water.  In  vain  he  struggled  to  get  out  again  ;  all 
around  him  there  was  nothing  but  snow  slush,  which 
afforded  no  foothold.  I  could  scarcely  hear  a  sound  of 
him,  only  just  a  faint  whining  noise  now  and  then.  I 
leaned  down  over  the  edge  in  order  to  get  near  him,  but  it 
was  too  high,  and  I  very  nearly  went  after  him  head-first; 
all  that  I  could  get  hold  of  was  loose  fragments  of  ice 
and  lumps  of  snow.  I  called  for  a  seal-hook,  but  before 
it  was  brought  to  me  '  Pan  '  had  scrambled  out  himself, 
and  was  leaping  to  and  fro  on  the  floe  with  all  his  might 
to  keep  himself  warm,  followed  by  the  other  dogs,  who 
loudly  barked  and  oambolled  about  with  him,  as  thouQrh 
they  wished  to  demonstrate  their  joy  at  his  rescue.  When 
he  fell  in  they  all  rushed  forward,  looking  at  me  and 
whining;  they  evidently  felt  sorry  for  him  and  wished 
me  to  help  him.  They  said  nothing,  but  just  ran  up 
and  down  along  the  edge  until  he  got  out.  At  another 
moment,  perhaps,  they  may  all  unite  in  tearing  him  to 
pieces  ;  such  is  canine  and  human  nature.  '  Pan  '  was 
allowed  to  dry  himself  in  the  saloon  all  the  after- 
noon. 

"A  little  before  half -past  nine  to-night  the  vessel 
received  a  tremendous  shock.  I  went  out,  but  no  noise 
of  ice -packing  could  be  heard.  However,  the  wind 
howled   so  in    the   rigging    that  it  was   not  easy  to   dis- 


WE  PREPARE  EOR   THE  SLEDGE  EXPEDmOX    39 

tinguish  any  other  sound.  At  half- past  ten  another 
shock  followed;  later  on,  from  time  to  time,  vibrations 
were  felt  in  the  vessel,  and  towards  half-past  eleven  the 
shocks  became  stronger.  It  was  clear  that  the  ice  was 
packing  at  some  place  or  other  about  us,  and  I  was  just 
on  the  point  of  going  out  when  Mogstad  came  to 
announce  that  there  was  a  very  ugly  pressure  -  ridge 
ahead.  We  went  out  with  lanterns.  Fifty -six  paces 
from  the  bow  there  extended  a  perpendicular  ridge 
stretching  along  the  course  of  the  lane,  and  there  was 
a  terrible  pressure  going  on  at  the  moment.  It  roared 
and  crunched  and  crackled  all  along;  then  it  abated  a 
little  and  recurred  at  intervals,  as  thousfh  in  a  re2:ular 
rhythm ;  finally  it  passed  over  into  a  continuous  roar. 
It  seemed  to  be  mostly  newly  frozen  ice  from  the  chan- 
nels which  had  formed  this  ridge ;  but  there  were  also 
some  ponderous  blocks  of  ice  to  be  seen  among  it.  It 
pressed  slowly  but  surely  forward  towards  the  vessel ;  the 
ice  had  given  way  before  it  to  a  considerable  distance 
and  was  still  being  borne  down  little  by  little.  The  floe 
around  us  has  cracked,  so  that  the  block  of  ice  in  which 
the  vessel  is  embedded  is  smaller  than  it  was.  I  should 
not  like  to  have  that  pressure-ridge  come  in  right  under 
the  nose  of  the  Fram,  as  it  might  soon  do  some  damage. 
Although  there  is  hardly  any  prospect  of  its  getting  so 
far,  nevertheless  I  have  given  orders  to  the  watch  to 
keep  a  sharp  lookout ;  and  if  it  comes  very  near,  or  if 
the  ice  should  crack  under  us,  he  is  to  call  me.      Prob- 


40  FARTHESl^  NORTH 

ably  the  pressure  will  soon  abate,  as  it  has  now  kept  up 
for  several  hours.  At  this  moment  (12.45  a.m.)  there  have 
just  been  some  violent  shocks,  and  above  the  howling  of 
the  wind  in  the  rigging  I  can  hear  the  roar  of  the  ice- 
pressure  as  I  lie  in  my  berth." 


CHAPTER   II 
THE    NEW    YEAR,    1 895 

"Wednesday,  January  2,  1895.  Never  before  have  I 
had  such  strange  feelings  at  the  commencement  of  the 
new  year.  It  cannot  fail  to  bring  some  momentous 
events,  and  will  possibly  become  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able years  in  my  life,  whether  it  leads  me  to  success  or  to 
destruction.  Years  come  and  go  unnoticed  in  this  world 
of  ice,  and  we  have  no  more  knowledge  here  of  what 
these  years  have  brought  to  humanity  than  we  know  of 
what  the  future  ones  have  in  store.  In  this  silent  nature 
no  events  ever  happen;  all  is  shrouded  in  darkness;  there 
is  nothing  in  view  save  the  twinkling  stars,  immeasurably 
far  away  in  the  freezing  night,  and  the  flickering  sheen 
of  the  aurora  borealis.  I  can  just  discern  close  by  the 
vague  outline  of  the  Fram,  dimly  standing  out  in  the 
desolate  gloom,  with  her  rigging  showing  dark  against 
the  host  of  stars.  Like  an  infinitesimal  speck,  the  vessel 
seems  lost  amidst  the  boundless  expanse  of  this  realm 
of  death.  Nevertheless,  under  her  deck  there  is  a  snug 
and  cherished  home  for  thirteen  men  undaunted  by  the 
majesty  of  this  realm.     In  there,  life  is  freely  pulsating, 


42  FARTHEST  NORTH 

while  far  away  outside  in  the  night  there  is  nothing  save 
death  and  silence,  only  broken  now  and  then,  at  long 
intervals,  by  the  violent  pressure  of  the  ice  as  it  surges 
along  in  gigantic  masses.  It  sounds  most  ominous  in 
the  great  stillness,  and  one  cannot  help  an  uncanny 
feeling  as  if  supernatural  powers  were  at  hand,  the 
Jotuns  and  Rimturser  (frost-giants)  of  the  Arctic  regions, 
with  whom  we  may  have  to  engage  in  deadly  combat  at 
any  moment ;  but  we  are  not  afraid  of  them. 

"I  often  think  of  Shakespeare's  Viola,  who  sat  'like 
Patience  on  a  monument.'  Could  we  not  pass  as  repre- 
sentatives of  this  marble  Patience,  imprisoned  here  on 
the  ice  while  the  years  roll  by,  awaiting  our  time.f*  I 
should  like  to  design  such  a  monument.  It  should  be  a 
lonely  man  in  shaggy  wolfskin  clothing,  all  covered  with 
hoar-frost,  sitting  on  a  mound  of  ice,  and  gazing  out  into 
the  darkness  across  these  boundless,  ponderous  masses  of 
ice,  awaiting  the  return  of  daylight  and  spring. 

"  The  ice-pressure  was  not  noticeable  after  i  o'clock 
on  Friday  night  until  it  suddenly  recommenced  last 
night.  First  I  heard  a  rumbling  outside,  and  some 
snow  fell  down  from  the  rigging  upon  the  tent  roof  as  I 
sat  reading;  I  thought  it  sounded  like  packing  in  the 
ice,  and  just  then  the  Fram  received  a  violent  shock, 
such  as  she  had  not  received  since  last  winter.  I  was 
rocked  backward  and  forward  on  the  chest  on  which  I 
was  sitting.  Finding  that  the  trembling  and  rumbling 
continued,  I  went   out.     There  was  a   loud   roar  of  ice- 


THE   NEW  YEAR,  iSgs  43 

packing  to  the  west  and  northwest,  which  continued  uni- 
formly for  a  couple  of  hours  or  so.  Is  this  the  New- 
year's  greeting  from  the  ice  ? 

"We  spent  New-year's-eve  cozily,  with  a  cloudberry 
punch-bowl,  pipes,  and  cigarettes.  Needless  to  say,  there 
was  an  abundance  of  cakes  and  the  like,  and  we  spoke 
of  the  old  and  the  new  year  and  days  to  come.  Some 
selections  were  played  on  the  organ  and  violin.  Thus 
midnight  arrived.  Blessing  produced  from  his  apparent- 
ly inexhaustible  store  a  bottle  of  genuine  '  linje  akkevit ' 
(line  eau-de-vie),  and  in  this  Norwegian  liquor  we  drank 
the  old  year  out  and  the  new  year  in.  Of  course 
there  was  many  a  thought  that  would  obtrude  itself  at 
the  change  of  the  year,  being  the  second  which  we  had 
seen  on  board  the  Fram,  and  also,  in  all  probability, 
the  last  that  we  should  all  spend  together.  Naturally 
enough,  one  thanked  one's  comrades,  individually  and 
collectively,  for  all  kindness  and  good-fellowship.  Hard- 
ly one  of  us  had  thought,  perhaps,  that  the  time  would 
pass  so  well  up  here.  Sverdrup  expressed  the  wish  that 
the  journey  which  Johansen  and  I  were  about  to  make 
in  the  coming  year  might  be  fortunate  and  bring  success 
in  all  respects.  And  then  we  drank  to  the  health  and 
well-being  in  the  coming  year  of  those  who  were  to  re- 
main behind  on  board  the  Frajit.  It  so  happened  that 
just  now  at  the  turn  of  the  year  we  stood  on  the  verge 
of  an  entirely  new  world.  The  wind  which  whistled  up 
in  the  rigging  overhead  was  not  only  wafting  us  on  to 


44  FARTHEST  NORTH 

unknown  regions,  but  also  up  into  higher  latitudes  than 
any  human  foot  had  ever  trod.  We  felt  that  this  year, 
which  was  just  commencing,  would  bring  the  culminat- 
ing-point  of  the  expedition,  when  it  would  bear  its  rich- 
est fruits.  Would  that  this  year  might  prove  a  good 
year  for  those  on  board  the  Fram ;  that  the  Frain  might 
go  ahead,  fulfilling  her  task  as  she  has  hitherto  done ; 
and  in  that  case  none  of  us  could  doubt  that  those  on 
board  would  also  prove  equal  to  the  task  intrusted  to 
them. 

"  New-year's-day  was  ushered  in  with  the  same  wind, 
the  same  stars,  and  the  same  darkness  as  before.  Even  at 
noon  one  cannot  see  the  slightest  glimmer  of  twilight 
in  the  south.  Yesterday  I  thought  I  could  trace  some- 
thing of  the  kind ;  it  extended  like  a  faint  gleam  of  light 
over  the  sky,  but  it  was  yellowish  -  white,  and  stretched 
too  high  up ;  hence  I  am  rather  inclined  to  think  that  it 
was  an  aurora  borealis.  Again  to-day  the  sky  looks  light- 
er near  the  edge,  but  this  can  scarcely  be  anything  ex- 
cept the  gleam  of  the  aurora  borealis,  which  extends  all 
round  the  sky,  a  little  above  the  fog-banks  on  the  horizon, 
and  which  is  strongest  at  the  edge.  Exactly  similar  lights 
may  be  observed  at  other  times  in  other  parts  of  the  ho- 
rizon. The  air  was  particularly  clear  yesterday,  but  the 
horizon  is  always  somewhat  foggy  or  hazy.  During  the 
night  we  had  an  uncommonly  strong  aurora  borealis  ; 
wavy  streamers  were  darting  in  rapid  twists  over  the 
southern  sky,  their  rays  reaching  to  the  zenith,  and  be- 


THE  NEW   YEAR,   iSgs  45 

yond  it  there  was  to  be  seen  for  a  time  a  band  in  the 
form  of  a  ororo;eous  corona,  casting^  a  reflection  like 
moonshine  across  the  ice.  The  sky  had  Ht  up  its  torch 
in  honor  of  the  new  year — a  fairy  dance  of  darting 
streamers  in  the  depth  of  night.  I  cannot  help  often 
thinking  that  this  contrast  might  be  taken  as  typical 
of  the  Northman's  character  and  destiny.  In  the  midst 
of  this  gloomy,  silent  nature,  with  all  its  numbing  cold, 
we  have  all  these  shooting,  glittering,  quivering  rays 
of  light.  Do  they  not  typify  our  impetuous  'spring- 
dances,'  our  wild  mountain  melodies,  the  auroral  gleams 
in  our  souls,  the  rushing,  surging,  spiritual  forces  behind 
the  mantle  of  ice  ?  There  is  a  dawning  life  in  the  slum- 
bering night,  if  it  could  only  reach  beyond  the  icy  desert, 
out  over  the  world. 

"Thus  1895  comes  in: 

"'Turn,  Fortune,  turn  thy  wheel  and  lower  the  proud; 
Turn  thy  wild  wheel  thro'  sunshine,  storm,  and  cloud ; 
Thy  wheel  and  thee  we  neither  love  nor  hate. 

" '  Smile  and  we  smile,  the  lords  of  many  lands ; 
Frown  and  we  frown,  the  lords  of  our  own  hands; 
For  man  is  man  and  master  of  his  fate.' 

"  Thursday,  January  3d.  A  day  of  unrest,  a  changeful 
life,  notwithstanding  all  its  monotony.  But  yesterday  we 
were  full  of  plans  for  the  future,  and  to-day  how  easily 
misht  we  have  been  left  on  the  ice  without  a  roof  over 
our  heads!  At  half -past  four  in  the  morning  a  fresh 
rush  of  ice  set  in  in  the  lane  aft,  and  at  five  it  commenced 


46  FARTHEST  NORTH 

in  the  lane  on  our  port  side.  About  8  o'clock  I  awoke, 
and  heard  the  crunching  and  crackling  of  the  ice,  as  if 
ice-pressure  were  setting  in.  A  slight  trembling  was  felt 
throughout  the  Fram,  and  I  heard  the  roar  outside. 
When  I  came  out  I  was  not  a  little  surprised  to  find  a 
large  pressure  -  ridge  all  along  the  channel  on  the  port 
side  scarcely  thirty  paces  from  the  Fram ;  the. cracks  on 
this  side  extended  to  quite  eighteen  paces  from  us.  All 
loose  articles  that  were  lying  on  the  ice  on  this  side 
were  stowed  away  on  board ;  the  boards  and  planks 
which,  during  the  summer,  had  supported  the  meteor- 
ological hut  and  the  screen  for  the  same  were  chopped 
up,  as  we  could  not  afford  to  lose  any  materials ;  but 
the  line,  which  had  been  left  out  in  the  sounding- 
hole  with  the  bag-net  attached  to  it,  was  caught  in  the 
pressure.  Just  after  I  had  come  on  board  again  short- 
ly before  noon  the  ice  suddenly  began  to  press  on 
again.  I  went  out  to  have  a  look;  it  was  again  in  the 
lane  on  the  port  side ;  there  was  a  strong  pressure,  and 
the  ridge  was  gradually  approaching.  A  little  later  on 
Sverdrup  went  up  on  deck,  but  soon  after  came  below 
and  told  us  that  the  ridge  was  quickly  bearing  down  on 
us,  and  a  few  hands  were  required  to  come  up  and  help  to 
load  the  sledge  with  the  sounding  apparatus,  and  bring  it 
round  to  the  starboard  side  of  the  Fram,  as  the  ice  had 
cracked  close  by  it.  The  ridge  began  to  come  alarmingly 
near,  and,  should  it  be  upon  us  before  the  Fram  had 
broken  loose  from   the  ice,  matters  might  become  very 


THE  NEW  YEAR,  iSgs  47 

unpleasant.      The  vessel  had  now  a  greater  list  to  the 
port  side  than  ever. 

"  During  the  afternoon  various  preparations  were  made 
to  leave  the  ship  if  the  worst  should  happen.  All  the 
sledges  were  placed  ready  on  deck,  and  the  kayaks 
were  also  made  clear;  25  cases  of  dog-biscuits  were 
deposited  on  the  ice  on  the  starboard  side,  and  19  cases 
of  bread  were  brought  up  and  placed  forward  ;  also  4 
drums,  holding  altogether  22  gallons  of  petroleum,  were 
put  on  deck.  Ten  smaller-sized  tins  had  previously  been 
filled  with  100  litres  of  snowflake  oil,  and  various  vessels 
containing  gasoline  were  also  standing  on  deck.  As  we 
were  sitting  at  supper  we  again  heard  the  same  crunching 
and  crackling  noise  in  the  ice  as  usual,  coming  nearer 
and  nearer,  and  finally  we  heard  a  crash  proceeding  from 
right  underneath  where  we  sat.  I  rushed  up.  There 
was  a  pressure  of  ice  in  the  lane  a  little  way  off,  almost 
on  our  starboard  beam.  I  went  down  again,  and  con- 
tinued my  meal.  Peter,  who  had  gone  out  on  the  ice, 
soon  after  came  down  and  said,  laughing  as  usual,  that 
it  was  no  wonder  we  heard  some  crackling,  for  the  ice 
had  cracked  not  a  sledge  -  length  away  from  the  dog- 
biscuit  cases,  and  the  crack  was  extending  abaft  of  the 
Fram.  I  went  out,  and  found  the  crack  was  a  ver}^  con- 
siderable one.  The  dog-biscuit  cases  w^re  now  shifted 
a  little  more  forward  for  greater  safety.  We  also  found 
several  minor  cracks  in  the  ice  around  the  vessel.  I  then 
went  down  and  had  a  pipe  and  a  pleasant  chat  with  Sver- 


48  FARTHEST  NORTH 

drup  in  his  cabin.  After  we  had  been  sitting  a  good 
while  the  ice  again  began  to  crack  and  jam.  I  did  not 
think  that  the  noise  was  greater  than  usual ;  neverthe- 
less, I  asked  those  in  the  saloon,  who  sat  playing  halma, 
whether  there  was  any  one  on  deck ;  if  not,  would  one  of 
them  be  kind  enough  to  go  and  see  where  the  ice  was 
packing.  I  heard  hurried  steps  above ;  Nordahl  came 
down  and  reported  that  it  was  on  the  port  side,  and  that 
it  would  be  best  for  us  to  be  on  deck.  Peter  and  I  jumped 
up  and  several  followed.  As  I  went  down  the  ladder 
Peter  called  out  to  me  from  above :  '  We  must  oret  the 
dogs  out;  see,  there  is  water  on  the  ice!'  It  was  high 
time  that  we  came ;  the  water  was  rushing  in  and  already 
stood  high  in  the  kennel.  Peter  waded  into  the  water  up 
to  his  knees  and  pushed  the  door  open.  Most  of  the  dogs 
rushed  out  and  jumped  about,  splashing  in  the  water;  but 
some,  being  frightened,  had  crept  back  into  the  innermost 
corner  and  had  to  be  dragged  out,  although  they  stood  in 
water  reaching  high  up  their  legs.  Poor  brutes,  it  must 
have  been  miserable  enough,  in  all  conscience,  to  be  shut 
up  in  such  a  place  while  the  water  was  steadily  rising 
about  them,  yet  they  are  not  more  noisy  than  usual. 

"  The  dogs  having  been  put  in  safety,  I  walked  round 
the  Fram  to  see  what  else  had  happened.  The  ice  had 
cracked  along  her  to  the  fore,  near  the  starboard  bow; 
from  this  crack  the  water  had  poured  aft  along  the  port 
side,  which  was  weighed  down  by  the  weight  of  the  ridge 
steadily  pressing  on  towards   us.      The  crack  has  just 


^       1—1 


i 


THE  NEW   YEAR,   1895  %\ 

passed  under  the  middle  of  the  portable  forge,  which  was 
thus  endangered,  and  it  was  therefore  put  on  a  sledge  and 
removed  to  the  great  hummock  on  the  starboard  quarter. 
The  pemmican — altogether  1 1  cases — the  cases  of  dog- 
biscuits,  and  19  cases  of  bread  were  conveyed  to  the 
same  place.  Thus  we  have  now  a  complete  depot  lying 
over  there,  and,  I  trust,  in  entire  safety,  the  ice  being  so 
thick  that  it  is  not  likely  to  give  way.  This  has  brought 
life  into  the  lads  ;  they  have  all  turned  out.  We  took  out 
4  more  tin  cans  of  petroleum  to  the  hummock,  then  pro- 
ceeded to  bring  up  from  the  hold  and  place  on  deck 
ready  for  removal  21  cases  of  bread,  and  a  supply  of  pem- 
mican, chocolate,  butter,  '  vril-food,'  soup,  etc.,  calculated 
to  last  us  200  days.  Also  tents,  cooking  apparatus,  and 
the  like,  were  got  ready,  so  that  now  all  is  clear  up  there, 
and  we  may  sleep  securely ;  but  it  was  past  midnight  be- 
fore we  had  done.  I  still  trust  that  it  is  all  a  false  alarm, 
and  that  we  shall  have  no  occasion  for  these  supplies 
now,  at  any  rate ;  nevertheless,  it  is  our  duty  to  keep 
everything  ready  in  case  the  unthinkable  should  happen. 
Moreover,  the  watch  has  been  enjoined  to  mind  the  dogs 
on  the  ice  and  to  keep  a  sharp  lookout  in  case  the  ice 
should  crack  underneath  our  cases  or  the  ice-pressure 
should  recommence  ;  if  anything  should  happen  we  are 
to  be  called  out  at  once,  too  early  rather  than  too  late. 
While  I  sit  here  and  write  I  hear  the  crunching  and 
crackling  beginning  again  outside,  so  that  there  must  still 
be  a  steady  pressure  on   the   ice.     All  are   in   the  best 


52  FARTHEST  NORTH 

spirits ;  it  almost  appears  as  if  they  looked  upon  this  as 
a  pleasant  break  in  the  monotony  of  our  existence.  Well, 
it  is  half-past  one,  I  had  better  turn  into  my  bunk ;  I  am 
tired,  and  goodness  knows  how  soon  I  may  be  called  up. 
"  Friday,  January  4th.  The  ice  kept  quiet  during  the 
night,  but  all  day,  with  some  intervals,  it  has  been  crack- 
ling and  settling,  and  this  evening  there  have  been  sev- 
eral fits  of  pressure  from  9  o'clock  onward.  For  a  time 
it  came  on,  sometimes  rather  lightly,  at  regular  inter- 
vals ;  sometimes  with  a  rush  and  a  regular  roar ;  then 
it  subsided  somewhat,  and  then  it  roared  anew.  Mean- 
while the  pressure-ridge  towers  higher  and  higher  and 
bears  right  down  upon  us  slowly,  while  the  pressure 
comes  on  at  intervals  only,  and  more  quickly  when  the 
onset  continues  for  a  time.  One  can  actually  see  it 
creeping  nearer  and  nearer;  and  now,  at  i  o'clock  at 
night,  it  is  not  many  feet — scarcely  five — away  from  the 
edge  of  the  snow-drift  on  the  port  side  near  the  gang- 
way, and  thence  to  the  vessel  is  scarcely  more  than  ten 
feet,  so  that  it  will  not  be  long  now  before  it  is  upon 
us.  Meanwhile  the  ice  continues  to  split,  and  the  solid 
mass  in  which  we  are  embedded  grows  less  and  less, 
both  to  port  and  starboard.  Several  fissures  extend 
right  up  to  the  Fram.  As  the  ice  sinks  down  under 
the  weight  of  the  ridge  on  the  port  side  and  the  Fram, 
lists  more  that  way,  more  water  rushes  up  over  the  new 
ice  which  has  frozen  on  the  water  that  rose  yesterday. 
This   is   like   dying  by  inches.      Slowly  but  surely  the 


THE  NEW  YEAR,   1895  53 

baleful  ridsre  advances,  and  it  looks  as  if  it  meant  oroinor 
right  over  the  rail ;  but  if  the  Frain  will  only  oblige 
by  getting  free  of  the  ice  she  will,  I  feel  confident,  ex- 
tricate herself  yet,  even  though  matters  look  rather  awk- 
ward at  present.  We  shall  probably  have  a  hard  time 
of  it,  however,  before  she  can  break  loose  if  she  does 
not  do  so  at  once.  I  have  been  out  and  had  a  look  at 
the  ridge,  and  seen  how  surely  it  is  advancing !  I  have 
looked  at  the  fissures  in  the  ice  and  noted  how  they  are 
forming  and  expanding  round  the  vessel ;  I  have  listened 
to  the  ice  crackling  and  crunching  underfoot,  and  I  do 
not  feel  much  disposed  to  turn  into  my  berth  before  I 
see  the  Frani  quite  released.  As  I  sit  here  now  I  hear 
the  ice  making  a  fresh  assault,  and  roaring  and  packing 
outside,  and  I  can  tell  that  the  ridge  is  coming  nearer. 
This  is  an  ice-pressure  with  a  vengeance,  and  it  seems 
as  if  it  would  never  cease.  I  do  not  think  there  is  any- 
thing more  that  we  can  do  now.  All  is  in  readiness  for 
leaving  the  vessel,  if  need  be.  To-day  the  clothing,  etc., 
was  taken  out  and  placed  ready  for  removal  in  separate 
bags  for  each  man. 

"  It  is  very  strange ;  there  is  certainly  a  possibility  that 
all  our  plans  may  be  crossed  by  unforeseen  events,  al- 
though it  is  not  very  probable  that  this  will  happen.  As 
yet  I  feel  no  anxiety  in  that  direction,  only  I  should  like 
to  know  whether  we  are  really  to  take  everything  on  to 
the  ice  or  not.  However,  it  is  past  i  o'clock,  and  I  think 
the  most  sensible  thing  to  do  would  be  to  turn  in  and 


54  FARTHEST  NORTH 

sleep.  The  watch  has  orders  to  call  me  when  the  hum- 
mock reaches  the  Fram.  It  is  lucky  it  is  moonlight 
now,  so  that  we  are  able  to  see  something  of  all  this 
abomination. 

"  The  day  before  yesterday  we  saw  the  moon  for  the 
first  time  just  above  the  horizon.  Yesterday  it  was  shin- 
ing a  little,  and  now  we  have  it  both  day  and  night.  A 
most  favorable  state  of  things.  But  it  is  nearly  2  o'clock, 
and  I  must  go  to  sleep  now.  The  pressure  of  the  ice,  I 
can  hear,  is  stronger  again. 
//  "Saturday,  January  5th.  To-night  everybody  sleeps 
fully  dressed,  and  with  the  most  indispensable  necessaries 
either  by  his  side  or  secured  to  his  body,  ready  to  jump 
on  the  ice  at  the  first  warning.  All  other  requisites,  such 
as  provisions,  clothing,  sleeping-bags,  etc.,  etc.,  have  been 
brought  out  on  the  ice.  We  have  been  at  work  at  this 
all  day,  and  have  got  everything  into  perfect  order,  and 
are  now  quite  ready  to  leave  if  necessary,  which,  how- 
ever, I  do  not  believe  will  be  the  case,  though  the  ice- 
pressure  has  been  as  bad  as  it  could  be. 

"  I  slept  soundly,  woke  up  only  once,  and  listened  to 
the  crunching  and  jamming  and  grinding  till  I  fell  asleep 
again.  I  was  called  at  5.30  in  the  morning  by  Sverdrup, 
who  told  me  that  the  hummock  had  now  reached  the 
Fram,  and  was  bearing  down  on  us  violently,  reaching 
as  high  as  the  rail.  I  was  not  left  in  doubt  very  long,  as 
hardly  had  I  opened  my  eyes  when  I  heard  a  thunder- 
ing and  crashing  outside  in  the  ice,  as  if  doomsday  had 


■^ 

^ 


THE  NEW  YEAR,  1895  55 

come.  I  jumped  up.  There  was  nothing  left  for  it  but 
to  call  all  hands,  to  put  all  the  remaining  provisions  on 
the  ice,  and  then  put  all  our  furs  and  other  equipment 
on  deck,  so  that  they  could  be  thrown  overboard  at  a 
moment's  notice  if  necessary.  Thus  the  day  passed, 
but  the  ice  kept  quiet.  Last  of  all,  the  petroleum  launch, 
which  was  hanging  in  the  davits  on  the  port  side,  was 
lowered,  and  was  dragged  towards  the  great  hummock. 
At  about  8  o'clock  in  the  evening,  when  we  thought 
the  ice-pressure  had  subsided,  it  started  thundering  and 
crashing  again  worse  than  ever.  I  hurried  up.  Masses 
of  snow  and  ice  rushed  on  us,  high  above  the  rail  amid- 
ships and  over  the  tent.  Peter,  who  also  came  up,  seized 
a  spade  and  rushed  forward  outside  the  awning  as  far 
as  the  forepart  of  the  half-deck,  and  stood  in  the  midst 
of  the  ice,  digging  away,  and  I  followed  to  see  how 
matters  stood.  I  saw  more  than  I  cared  to  see;  it  was 
hopeless  to  fight  that  enemy  with  a  spade.  I  called 
out  to  Peter  to  come  back,  and  said,  '  We  had  better  see 
to  getting  everything  out  on  to  the  ice.'  Hardly  had  I 
spoken,  when  it  pressed  on  again  with  renewed  strength, 
and  thundered  and  crashed,  and,  as  Peter  said,  and 
laughed  till  he  shook  again,  '  nearly  sent  both  me  and 
the  spade  to  the  deuce.'  I  rushed  back  to  the  main- 
deck;  on  the  way  I  met  Mogstad,  who  hurried  up, 
spade  in  hand,  and  sent  him  back.  Running  forward 
under  the  tent  towards  the  ladder,  I  saw  that  the  tent- 
roof  was  bent  down  under  the  weight  of  the  masses  of 


56 


FARTHEST  NORTH 


ice,  which  were  rushing  over  it  and  crashing  in  over  the 
rail  and  bulwarks  to  such  an  extent  that  I  expected 
every  moment  to  see  the  ice  force  its  way  through  and 
block  up  the  passage.      When  I  got  below,  I  called  all 


ALL    HANDS    ON    DECK 


hands  on  deck;  but  told  them  when  going  up  not  to 
go  out  through  the  door  on  the  port  side,  but  through 
the  chart-room  and  out  on  the  starboard  side.  In  the 
first  place,  all  the  bags  were  to  be  brought  up  from  the 
saloon,  and  then  we  were  to  take  those  lying  on  deck. 
I  was  afraid  that  if  the  door  on  the  port  side  was  not 
kept  closed  the  ice  might,  if  it  suddenly  burst  through 
the  bulwarks  and  tent,  rush  over  the  deck  and  in 
through  the  door,   fill   the   passage  and  rush  down   the 


THE  NEW   YEAR,  1895  57 

ladder,  and  thus  imprison  us  like  mice  in  a  trap.  True, 
the  passage  up  from  the  engine-room  had  been  cleared 
for  this  emergency,  but  this  was  a  very  narrow  hole  to 
get  through  with  heavy  bags,  and  no  one  could  tell  how 
long  this  hole  would  keep  open  when  the  ice  once 
attacked  us  in  earnest.  I  ran  up  again  to  set  free 
the  dogs,  which  were  shut  up  in  '  Castle  -  garden  ' — an 
enclosure  on  the  deck  along  the  port  bulwark.  They 
whined  and  howled  most  dolefully  under  the  tent  as 
the  snow  masses  threatened  at  any  moment  to  crush 
it  and  bury  them  alive.  I  cut  away  the  fastening  with 
a  knife,  pulled  the  door  open,  and  out  rushed  most  of 
them  by  the  starboard  gangway  at  full  speed.* 

Meantime  the  hands  started  bringing  up  the  bags. 
It  was  quite  unnecessary  to  ask  them  to  hurry  up — the 
ice  did  that,  thundering  against  the  ship's  sides  in  a  way 
that  seemed  irresistible.  It  was  a  fearful  hurly-burly 
in  the  darkness ;  for,  to  cap  all,  the  mate  had,  in  the 
hurry,  let  the  lanterns  go  out.  I  had  to  go  down  again 
to  get  something  on  my  feet;  my  Finland  shoes  were 
hanging  up  to  dry  in  the  galley.  When  I  got  there  the 
ice  was  at  its  worst,  and  the  half-deck  beams  were  creak- 
ing overhead,  so  that  I  really  thought  they  were  all  com- 
ing down. 


*  The  word  svalkelem,  which  has  throughout  been  translated  "  gang- 
way," means  rather  a  sort  of  port-hole.  As  the  svalkelem,  however,  was 
the  means  of  exit  from  and  entrance  to  the  ship,  "gangway"  seemed  the 
most  convenient  expression  for  it. 


58  FARTHEST  NORTH 

"  The  saloon  and  the  berths  were  soon  cleared  of  bags, 
and  the  deck  as  well,  and  we  started  taking  them  along 
the  ice.  The  ice  roared  and  crashed  against  the  ships 
side,  so  that  we  could  hardly  hear  ourselves  speak;  but 
all  went  quickly  and  well,  and  before  long  everything  was 
in  safety, 

"  While  we  were  dragging  the  bags  along,  the  press- 
ure and  jamming  of  the  ice  had  at  last  stopped,  and 
all  was  quiet  again  as  before. 

"  But  what  a  sight !  The  Frams  port  side  was  quite 
buried  under  the  snow;  all  that  could  be  seen  was  the 
top  of  the  tent  projecting.  Had  the  petroleum  launch 
been  hanging  in  the  davits,  as  it  was  a  few  hours  pre- 
viously, it  would  hardly  have  escaped  destruction.  The 
davits  were  quite  buried  in  ice  and  snow.  It  is  curi- 
ous that  both  fire  and  water  have  been  powerless  against 
that  boat ;  and  it  has  now  come  out  unscathed  from  the 
ice,  and  lies  there  bottom  upward  on  the  floe.  She  has 
had  a  stormy  existence  and  continual  mishaps ;  I  wonder 
what  is  next  in  store  for  her? 

"  It  was,  I  must  admit,  a  most  exciting  scene  when  it 
was  at  its  worst,  and  we  thought  it  was  imperative  to  get 
the  bags  up  from  the  saloon  with  all  possible  speed. 
Sverdrup  now  tells  me  that  he  was  just  about  to  have 
a  bath,  and  was  as  naked  as  when  he  was  born,  when  he 
heard  me  call  all  hands  on  deck.  As  this  had  not  hap- 
pened before,  he  understood  there  was  something  seri- 
ous the  matter,  and  he  jumped  into  his  clothes  anyhow. 


THE  NEW   YEAR,    iSgs  59 

Amundsen,  apparently,  also  realized  that  something  was 
amiss.  He  says  he  was  the  first  who  came  up  with 
his  bag.  He  had  not  understood,  or  had  forgotten,  in 
the  confusion,  the  order  about  going  out  through  the 
starboard  door;  he  groped  his  way  out  on  the  port  side 
and  fell  in  the  dark  over  the  edge  of  the  half -deck. 
'  Well,  that  did  not  matter,'  he  said ;  '  he  was  quite  used 
to  that  kind  of  thing;'  but  having  pulled  himself  togeth- 
er after  the  fall,  and  as  he  w^as  lying  there  on  his  back, 
he  dared  not  move,  for  it  seemed  to  him  as  if  tent  and 
all  were  coming  down  on  him,  and  it  thundered  and 
crashed  against  the  gunwale  and  the  hull  as  if  the  last 
hour  had  come.  It  finally  dawned  on  him  why  he 
ousht  to  have  o:one  out  on  the  starboard  and  not  on  the 
port  side. 

"  All  that  could  possibly  be  thought  to  be  of  any  use 
was  taken  out.  The  mate  was  seen  dragging  along  a 
big  bag  of  clothes  with  a  heavy  bundle  of  cups  fastened 
outside  it.  Later  he  was  stalking  about  with  all  sorts 
of  things,  such  as  mittens,  knives,  cups,  etc.,  fastened  to 
his  clothes  and  dangling  about  him,  so  that  the  rattling 
noise  could  be  heard  afar  off.     He  is  himself  to  the  last. 

"  In  the  evening  the  men  all  started  eating  their  stock 
of  cakes,  sweetmeats,  and  such -like,  smoked  tobacco, 
and  enjoyed  themselves  in  the  most  animated  fashion. 
They  evidently  thought  it  was  uncertain  when  they 
should  next  have  such  a  time  on  board  the  Frain,  and 
therefore  they  thought  it  was   best   to  avail  themselves 


6o  FARTHEST  NORTH 

of  the  opportunity.  We  are  now  living  in  marching 
order  on  an  empty  ship. 

"  By  way  of  precaution  we  have  now  burst  open  again 
the  passage  on  the  starboard  side  which  was  used  as  a 
Hbrary  and  had  therefore  been  closed,  and  all  doors 
are  now  kept  always  open,  so  that  we  can  be  sure  of 
getting  out,  even  if  anything  should  give  way.  We  do 
not  want  the  ice-pressure  to  close  the  doors  against  us 
by  jamming  the  doorposts  together.  But  she  certainly  is 
a  strong  ship.  It  is  a  mighty  ridge  that  we  have  in  our 
port  side,  and  the  masses  of  ice  are  tremendous.  The 
ship  is  listing  more  than  ever,  nearly  7° ;  but  since  the 
last  pressure  she  has  righted  herself  a  little  again,  so 
that  she  must  surely  have  broken  away  from  the  ice 
and  begun  to  rise,  and  all  danger  is  doubtless  over.  So, 
after  all,  it  has  been  a  case  of  '  Much  ado  about  nothing.' 

"  Sunday,  January  6th.  A  quiet  day ;  no  jamming 
since  last  night.  Most  of  the  fellows  slept  well  on  into 
the  morning.  This  afternoon  all  have  been  very  busy 
di^aine  the  Frain  out  of  the  ice  aeain,  and  we  have  now 
got  the  rail  clear  right  aft  to  the  half-deck ;  but  a  tre- 
mendous mass  had  fallen  over  the  tent.  It  was  above 
the  second  ratline  in  the  fore-shrouds,  and  fully  six  feet 
over  the  rail.  It  is  a  marvel  that  the  tent  stood  it; 
but  it  was  a  very  good  thing  that  it  did  do  so,  for  other- 
wise it  is  hard  to  say  what  might  have  become  of  many 
of  the  dosrs.  This  afternoon  Hansen  took  a  meridian 
observation,  which  gave  83°  34'  north  latitude.     Hurrah ! 


THE  NKW  YEAR,  i8gj  6 1 

We  are  getting  on  well  northward  —  thirteen  minutes 
since  Monday — and  the  most  northern  latitude  is  now 
reached.  It  goes  without  saying  that  the  occasion  was 
duly  celebrated  with  a  bowl  of  punch,  preserved  fruits, 
cakes,  and  the  doctor's  cigars. 

"  Last  night  we  were  running  with  the  bags  for  our 
lives ;  to-night  we  are  drinking  punch  and  feasting :  such 
are,  indeed,  the  vicissitudes  of  fate.  All  this  roaring  and 
crashing  for  the  last  few  days  has  been,  perhaps,  a  can- 
nonade to  celebrate  our  reaching  such  a  high  latitude.  If 
that  be  so,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  ice  has  done  full 
honor  to  the  occasion.  Well,  never  mind,  let  it  crash  on 
so  long  as  we  only  get  northward.  The  Fram  will,  no 
doubt,  stand  it  now ;  she  has  lifted  fully  one  foot  for- 
ward and  fully  six  inches  aft,  and  she  has  slipped  a 
little  astern.  Moreover,  we  cannot  find  so  much  as  a 
single  stanchion  in  the  bulwarks  that  has  started,  yet 
to-night  every  man  will  sleep  fully  prepared  to  make  for 
the  ice. 

"  Monday,  January  7th.  There  was  a  little  jamming 
of  the  ice  occasionally  during  the  day,  but  only  of  slight 
duration,  then  all  was  quiet  again.  Evidently  the  ice 
has  not  yet  settled,  and  we  have  perhaps  more  to  expect 
from  our  friend  to  port,  whom  I  would  willingly  ex- 
chans:e  for  a  better  neighbor. 

"  It  seems,  however,  as  if  the  ice-pressure  had  altered 
its  direction  since  the  wind  has  changed  to  S.E.  It  is 
now  confined  to  the  ridges  fore  and  aft  athwart  the  wind; 


62  FARTHEST  NORTH 

while  our  friend  to  port,  lying  almost  in  the  line  of  the 
wind,  has  kept  somewhat  quieter. 

"  Everything  has  an  end,  as  the  boy  said  when  he  was 
in  for  a  birching.  Perhaps  the  growth  of  this  ridge  has 
come  to  an  end  now,  perhaps  not;  the  one  thing  is  just 
as  likely  as  the  other, 

"To-day  the   work  of  extricating   the  Fram  is   pro- 
ceeding;  we  will   at   all    events    get    the    rails    clear    of 
the  ice.     It  presents  a  most  imposing  sight  by  the  light 
of    the    moon,    and,    however    conscious    of    one's    own 
strength,  one  cannot  help  respecting  an  antagonist  who 
commands  such  powers,  and  who,  in  a  few  moments,  is 
capable   of  putting  mighty    machinery   into    action.      It 
is    rather    an    awkward    battering  -  ram    to    face.       The 
Fram  is  equal  to  it,  but  no   other  ship  could   have   re- 
sisted such  an  onslaught.     In  less  than  an  hour  this  ice 
will  build  up  a  wall  alongside  us  and  over  us  which  it 
might  take  us  a  month  to  get  out  of,  and  possibly  longer 
than  that.     There  is  something  gigantic  about  it ;  it  is 
like  a  struggle  between  dwarfs  and  an  ogre,  in  which  the 
pygmies  have  to  resort  to  cunning  and  trickery  to  get 
out  of  the  clutches  of  one  who  seldom   relaxes  his  grip. 
The  Fram    is   the    ship  which   the    pygmies  have   built 
with  all  their  cunning  in  order  to  fight  the  ogre ;   and 
on  board  this  ship  they  work    as   busily   as   ants,  while 
the    ogre    only  thinks   it  worth  while    to   roll   over   and 
twist  his  body  about  now  and  then,  but   every  time  he 
turns   over   it   seems   as   though   the   nutshell   would   be 


THE  NEW   YEAR,   iSqs  63 

smashed  and  buried,  and  would  disappear;  but  the  pyg- 
mies have  built  their  nutshell  so  cleverly  that  it  always 
keeps  afloat,  and  wriggles  itself  free  from  the  deadly 
embrace.  The  old  traditions  and  les^ends  about  ijiants, 
about  Thor's  battles  in  the  Jbtunheim,  when  rocks 
were  split  and  crags  were  hurled  about,  and  the  val- 
leys were  filled  with  falling  boulders,  all  come  back  to 
me  when  1  look  at  these  mighty  ridges  of  ice  wind- 
ing their  way  far  off  in  the  moonlight ;  and  when  I  see 
the  men  standing  on  the  ice  -  heap  cutting  and  dig- 
ging to  remove  a  fraction  of  it,  then  they  seem  to  me 
smaller  than  pygmies,  smaller  than  ants ;  but  although 
each  ant  carries  only  a  single  fir-needle,  yet  in  course  of 
time  they  build  an  ant-hill,  where  they  can  live  comfort- 
ably, sheltered  from  storm  and  winter.  . 

"  Had  this  attack  on  the  Fram  been  planned  by  the 
aid  of  all  the  wickedness  in  the  world,  it  could  not  have 
been  a  worse  one.  The  floe,  seven  feet  thick,  has  borne 
down  on  us  on  the  port  side,  forcing  itself  up  on  the  ice, 
in  which  we  are  lying,  and  crushing  it  down.  Thus  the 
Fram  was  forced  down  with  the  ice,  while  the  other  floe, 
packed  up  on  the  ice  beneath,  bore  down  on  her,  and 
took  her  amidships  while  she  was  still  frozen  fast.  As 
far  as  I  can  judge,  she  could  hardly  have  had  a  tighter 
squeeze;  it  was  no  wonder  that  she  groaned  under  it; 
but  she  withstood  it,  broke  loose,  and  eased.  Who 
shall  say  after  this  that  a  vessel's  shape  is  of  little  con- 
sequence 1     Had  the  Fram  not  been  designed  as  she  was, 


64  FARTHEST  NORTH 

we  should  not  have  been  sitting  here  now.  Not  a  drop  of 
water  is  to  be  found  in  her  anywhere.  Strangely  enough, 
the  ice  has  not  given  us  another  such  squeeze  since  then; 
perhaps  it  was  its  expiring  grip  we  felt  on  Saturday. 

"  It  is  hard  to  tell,  but  it  was  terrific  enoui^h.  This 
morning  Sverdrup  and  I  went  for  a  walk  on  the  ice, 
but  when  we  got  a  little  way  from  the  ship  we  found  no 
sign  of  any  new  packing;  the  ice  was  smooth  and  un- 
broken as  before.  The  packing  has  been  limited  to  a 
certain  stretch  from  east  to  west,  and  the  Fram  has  been 
lying  at  the  very  worst  point  of  it. 

"  This  afternoon  Hansen  has  worked  out  yesterday's 
observations,  the  result  being  %f  34.2'  north  latitude 
and  102°  51'  east  longitude.  We  have  therefore  drifted 
north  and  westward ;  1 5  miles  west,  indeed,  and  only 
13.5  north  since  New-year's-eve,  while  the  wind  has 
been  mostly  from  the  southwest.  It  seems  as  if  the  ice 
has  taken  a  more  decided  course  towards  the  northwest 
than  ever,  and  therefore  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at 
that  there  is  some  pressure  when  the  wind  blows  athwart 
the  course  of  the  ice.  However,  I  hardly  think  we  need 
any  particular  explanation  of  the  pressure,  as  we  have 
evidently  again  got  into  a  packing-centre  with  cracks, 
lanes,  and  ridges,  where  the  pressure  is  maintained  for 
some  time,  such  as  we  were  in  during  the  first  winter. 
We  have  constantly  met  with  several  similar  stretches 
on  the  surrounding  ice,  even  when  it  has  been  most 
quiet. 


THE    NEW   YEAR,    i8(p5 


65 


"  This  evenino-  there  was  a  most  remarkable  briorht- 

o  o 

ness  risfht  under  the  moon.  It  was  Hke  an  immense 
luminous  haycock,  which  rose  from  the  horizon  and 
touched  the  great  ring  round  the  moon.  At  the  upper 
side  of  this  ring  there  was  a  segment  of  the  usual  in- 
verted arc  of  light." 

The  next  day,   January  8th,  the  ice  began  grinding 
occasionally,  and  while  Mogstad  and  I  stood  in  the  hold 


A    MOST    REMARKABLE    MOON 


working  on  hand  sledges  we  heard  creakings  in  the  ship 
both  above  and  below  us.  This  was  repeated  several 
times  ;  but  in  the  intervals  it  was  quiet.  I  was  often  on 
the  ice  listening  to  the   grinding  and  watching  how  it 

11.—^ 


66  FARTHEST  NORTH 

went  on,  but  it  did  not  go  beyond  crackling  and  creaking 
beneath  our  feet  and  in  the  ridge  at  our  side.  Perhaps 
it  is  to  warn  us  not  to  be  too  confident !  I  am  not  so 
sure  that  it  is  not  necessary.  It  is  in  reality  like  living 
on  a  smoking  volcano.  The  eruption  that  will  seal  our 
fate  may  occur  at  any  moment.  It  will  either  force  the 
ship  up  or  swallow  her  down.  And  what  are  the  stakes  } 
Either  the  Fram  will  get  home  and  the  expedition  be 
fully  successful,  or  we  shall  lose  her  and  have  to  be  con- 
tent with  what  we  have  done,  and  possibly  on  our  way 
home  we  may  explore  parts  of  Franz  Josef  Land.  That 
is  all  ;  but  most  of  us  feel  that  it  would  be  hard  to  lose 
the  ship,  and  it  would  be  a  very  sad  sight  to  see  her  dis- 
appear. 

"  Some  of  the  hands,  under  Sverdrup,  are  working, 
trying  to  cut  away  the  hummock  ice  on  the  port  side,  and 
they  have  already  made  good  headway.  Mogstad  and  I 
are  busy  getting  the  sledges  in  order,  and  preparing  them 
for  use  as  I  want  them,  whether  we  go  north  or  south. 

"  Liv  is  two  years  old  to-day. 

"  She  is  a  big  girl  now.  I  wonder  if  I  should  be  able 
to  recognize  her }  I  suppose  I  should  hardly  find  a  single 
familiar  feature.  They  are  sure  to  celebrate  the  day,  and 
she  will  get  all  kinds  of  presents.  Many  a  thought  will 
be  sent  northward,  but  they  know  not  where  to  look  for 
us ;  are  not  aware  that  we  are  drifting  here  embedded  in 
the  ice  in  the  highest  northern  latitudes  ever  reached,  in 
the  deepest  polar  night  ever  penetrated." 


00 


THE  NEW    YEAR,    iSgs  69 

During  the  following  days  the  ice  became  steadily 
quieter.  In  the  course  of  the  night  of  the  9th  of  January 
the  ice  was  still  slightly  cracking  and  grinding ;  then  it 
quite  subsided,  and  on  the  loth  of  January  the  report  is 
"  ice  perfectly  quiet,  and  if  it  were  not  for  the  ridge  on 
the  port  side  one  would  nev^er  have  thought  there  had 
ever  been  any  breach  in  the  eternal  stillness,  so  calm  and 
peaceful  is  it."  Some  men  went  on  cutting  away  the  ice, 
and  little  by  little  we  could  see  it  was  getting  less.  Mog- 
stad  and  I  were  busily  engaged  in  the  hold  with  the  new 
sledges,  and  during  this  time  I  also  made  an  attempt  to 
photograph  the  Fraiii  by  moonlight  from  different  points. 
The  results  surpassed  my  expectations ;  but  as  the  top  of 
the  pressure-ridge  had  now  been  cut  away,  these  photos 
do  not  give  an  exact  impression  of  the  pack-ice,  and  of 
how  it  came  hurtling  down  upon  the  Fram.  We  then  put 
in  order  our  depot  on  the  great  hummock  on  the  star- 
board quarter,  and  all  sleeping-bags,  Lapland  boots,  Finn 
shoes,  wolfskin  clothing,  etc.,  were  wrapped  in  the  foresail 
and  placed  to  the  extreme  west,  the  provisions  were  col- 
lected into  six  different  heaps,  and  the  rifles  and  guns 
were  distributed  among  three  of  the  heaps  and  wrapped 
up  in  boat-sails.  Next^  Hansen's  instrument-case  and  my 
own,  together  with  a  bucketful  of  rifle-cartridges,  were 
placed  under  a  boat-sail.  Then  the  forge  and  the  smith's 
tools  were  arranged  separately,  and  up  on  the  top  of  the 
great  hummock  we  laid  a  heap  of  sledges  and  snow-shoes. 
All  the   kayaks  were  laid   side  by  side  bottom    upward, 


70  FARTHEST  NORTH 

the  cooking  apparatus  and  lamps,  etc.,  being  placed  under 
them.  They  were  spread  out  in  this  way,  so  that  in  the 
improbable  event  of  the  thick  floe  splitting  suddenly  our 
loss  would  not  be  so  great.  We  knew  where  to  find 
everything,  and  it  might  blow  and  drift  to  its  heart's  con- 
tent without  our  losing  anything. 

On  the  evening  of  January  14th  I  wrote  in  my  diary: 
"  Two  sharp  reports  were  heard  in  the  ship,  like  shots 
from  a  cannon,  and  then  followed  a  noise  as  of  something 
splitting  —  presumably  this  must  be  the  cracking  of  the 
ice,  on  account  of  the  frost.  It  appeared  to  me  that  the 
list  on  the  ship  increased  at  that  moment,  but  perhaps  it 
was  only  imagination." 

As  time  passed  on  we  all  gradually  got  busy  again 
preparing  for  the  sledge  expedition.  On  Tuesday,  January 
15th,  I  say:  "This  evening  the  doctor  gave  a  lesson  to 
Johansen  and  myself  in  bandaging  and  repairing  broken 
limbs.  I  lay  on  the  table  and  had  a  plaster-of- Paris 
bandage  put  round  the  calf  of  m)^  leg,  while  all  the  crew 
were  looking  on.  The  very  sight  of  this  operation  can- 
not fail  to  suggest  unpleasant  thoughts.  An  accident  of 
this  nature  out  in  the  polar  night,  with  40"  to  50°  of 
cold,  would  be  anything  but  pleasant,  to  say  nothing  of 
how  easily  it  might  mean  death  to  both  of  us.  But  who 
knows }  We  might  manage  somehow.  However,  such 
things  must  not  be  allowed  to  happen,  and,  what  is  more, 
they  shall  iioty 

As  January  went  on  we  could  by  noon  just  see  the 


THE  NEW   YEAR,  iSgs  73 

faint  dawn  of  day — that  day  at  whose  sunrise  we  were  to 
start.  On  January  i8th  I  say:  "By  9  o'clock  in  the 
morning  I  could  already  distinguish  the  first  indications 
of  dawn,  and  by  noon  it  seemed  to  be  getting  bright ; 
but  it  seems  hardly  credible  that  in  a  month's  time  there 
will  be  light  enough  to  travel  by,  yet  it  must  be  so. 
True,  February  is  a  month  which  all  '  experienced '  peo- 
ple consider  far  too  early  and  much  too  cold  for  trav- 
elling; hardly  any  one  would  do  so  in  the  month  of 
March.  But  it  cannot  be  helped ;  we  have  no  time  to 
waste  in  waiting  for  additional  comfort  if  we  are  to  make 
any  progress  before  the  summer,  when  travelling  will  be 
impossible.  I  am  not  afraid  of  the  cold ;  we  can  always 
protect  ourselves  against  that. 

''  Meantime  all  preparations  are  proceeding,  and  I  am 
now  getting  everything  in  order  connected  with  copying 
of  diaries,  observation-books,  photographs,  etc.,  that  we 
are  to  take  with  us.  Mogstad  is  working  in  the  hold 
making  maple  guard-runners  to  put  under  the  sledges. 
Jacobsen  has  commenced  to  put  a  new  sledge  together. 
Pettersen  is  in  the  engine-room,  makincf  nails  for  the 
sledge -fittings,  which  Mogstad  is  to  put  on.  In  the 
meantime  some  of  the  others  have  built  a  large  forge  out 
on  the  ice  with  blocks  of  ice  and  snow,  and  to-morrow 
Sverdrup  and  I  will  heat  and  bend  the  runners  in  tar 
and  stearine  at  such  a  heat  as  we  can  produce  in  the 
forge.  We  trust  we  shall  be  able  to  get  a  sufficient  tem- 
perature to  do  this  important  work  thoroughly,  in  spite 


74  FARTHEST  NORTH 

of  the  40°  of  frost.  Amundsen  is  now  repairing  the  mill, 
as  there  is  something  wrong  with  it  again,  the  cog-wheels 
being  worn.  He  thinks  he  will  be  able  to  get  it  all  right 
again.  Rather  chilly  work  to  be  lying  up  there  in  the 
wind  on  the  top  of  the  mill,  boring  in  the  hard  steel  and 
cast-iron  by  lantern-light,  and  at  such  a  temperature  as 
we  are  having  now.  I  stood  and  watched  the  lantern- 
light  up  there  to-day,  and  I  soon  heard  the  drill  work- 
ing; one  could  tell  the  steel  was  hard;  then  I  could  hear 
clapping  of  hands.  'Ah,'  thought  I,  '  you  may  well  clap 
your  hands  together;  it  is  not  a  particularly  warm  job  to 
be  lying  up  there  in  the  wind.'  The  worst  of  it  is  one 
cannot  wear  mittens  for  such  work,  but  has  to  use  the 
bare  hands  if  one  is  to  make  any  progress,  and  it  would 
not  take  long  to  freeze  them  off ;  but  it  has  to  be  done, 
he  says,  and  he  will  not  give  in.  He  is  a  splendid  fellow 
in  all  he  undertakes,  and  I  console  him  by  saying  that 
there  are  not  many  before  him  who  have  worked  on  the 
top  of  a  mill  in  such  frost  north  of  %^ ,  On  many  ex- 
peditions they  have  avoided  out-of-door  work  when  the 
temperature  got  so  low.  '  Indeed,'  he  says,  '  I  thought 
that  other  expeditions  were  in  advance  of  us  in  that 
respect.  I  imagined  we  had  kept  indoors  too  much.'  I 
had  no  hesitation  in  enlightening  him  on  this  point;  I 
know  he  will  do  his  best  in  any  case. 

"  This  is,  indeed,  a  strange  time  for  me ;  I  feel  as  if  I 
were  preparing  for  a  summer  trip  and  the  spring  were 
already  here,  yet  it  is  still  midwinter,  and  the  conditions  of 


THE   NEW    YEAR,    i8gs  75 

the  summer  trip  may  be  somewhat  ambig-uoiis.  The  ice 
keeps  quiet;  the  cracking  in  it  and  in  the  Fraui  is  due 
only  to  the  cold.  I  have  during  the  last  few  days  again 
read  Payer's  account  of  his  sledge  expedition  northward 
through  Austria  Sound.  It  is  not  very  encouraging.  The 
very  land  he  describes  as  the  realm  of  Death,  where  he 
thinks  he  and  his  companions  would  inevitably  have 
perished  had  they  not  recovered  the  vessel,  is  the  place 
to  which  we  look  for  salvation;  that  is  the  region  we  hope 
to  reach  when  our  provisions  have  come  to  an  end.  It 
may  seem  reckless,  but  nevertheless  I  cannot  imagine 
that  it  is  so.  I  cannot  help  believing  that  a  land  which 
even  in  April  teems  with  bears,  auks,  and  black  guille- 
mots, and  where  seals  are  basking  on  the  ice,  must  be  a 
Canaan,  'flowing  with  milk  and  honey,'  for  two  men  who 
have  good  rifles  and  good  eyes ;  it  must  surely  yield  food 
enough  not  only  for  the  needs  of  the  moment,  but  also 
provisions  for  the  journey  onward  to  Spitzbergen.  Some- 
times, however,  the  thought  will  present  itself  that  it 
may  be  very  difficult  to  get  the  food  when  it  is  most 
sorely  needed ;  but  these  are  only  passing  moments. 
We  must  remember  Carlyle's  words:  'A  man  shall  and 
must  be  valiant;  he  must  march  forward,  and  quit  himself 
like  a  man  —  trusting  imperturbably  in  the  appointment 
and  choice  of  the  Upper  Powers.'  I  have  not,  it  is  true, 
any  '  Upper  Powers ';  it  would  probably  be  well  to  have 
them  in  such  a  case,  but  we  nevertheless  are  starting,  and 
the  time  approaches  rapidly ;  four  weeks  or  a  little  more 


76  FARTHEST  NORTH 

soon  pass  by,  and  then  farewell  to  this  snug  nest,  which 
has  been  our  home  for  eighteen  months,  and  w^e  go  out 
into  the  darkness  and  cold,  out  into  the  still  more  un- 
known : 

"  '  Out  yonder  'tis  dark, 
But  onward  we  must, 
Over  the  dewy  wet  mountains, 
Ride  through  the  land  of  the  ice-troll; 
We  shall  both  be  saved. 
Or  the  ice-troll's  hand 
Shall  clutch  us  both.'  " 

On  January  23d  I  write:  "The  dawn  has  grown  so 
much  that  there  was  a  visible  light  from  it  on  the  ice, 
and  for  the  first  time  this  year  I  saw  the  crimson  glow  of 
the  sun  low  down  in  the  dawn."  We  now  took  sound- 
ings with  the  lead  before  I  was  to  leave  the  vessel;  we 
found  1876  fathoms  (3450  metres).  I  then  made  some 
snow-shoes  down  in  the  hold ;  it  was  important  to  have 
them  smooth,  tough,  and  light,  on  which  one  could  make 
good  headway;  "they  shall  be  well  rubbed  with  tar, 
stearine,  and  tallow,  and  there  shall  be  speed  in  them ; 
then  it  is  only  a  question  of  using  one  s  legs,  and  I  have 
no  doubt  that  can  be  managed. 

"  Tuesday,  January  29th.  Latitude  yesterday,  83°  30'. 
(Some  days  ago  we  had  been  so  far  north  as  83°  40', 
but  had  again  drifted  southward.)  The  light  keeps  on 
steadily  increasing,  and  by  noon  it  almost  seems  to  be 
broad  daylight.  I  believe  I  could  read  the  title  of  a 
book  out  in  the  open  if  the  print  were  large  and  clear. 


THE   NEW    YEAR,   1895  77 

I  take  a  stroll  every  morning,  greeting  the  dawning  day, 
before  I  go  down  into  the  hold  to  my  work  at  the  snow- 
shoes  and  equipment.  My  mind  is  filled  with  a  peculiar 
sensation,  which  I  cannot  clearly  define ;  there  is  certainly 
an  exulting  feeling  of  triumph,  deep  in  the  soul,  a  feeling 
that  all  one's  dreams  are  about  to  be  realized  with  the 
rising  sun,  which  steers  northward  across  the  ice-bound 
waters.  But  while  I  am  busy  in  these  familiar  surround- 
ings a  wave  of  sadness  sometimes  comes  over  me ;  it  is 
like  biddine  farewell  to  a  dear  friend  and  to  a  home 
which  has  long  afforded  me  a  sheltering  roof.  At  one 
blow  all  this  and  my  dear  comrades  are  to  be  left  behind 
forever;  never  again  shall  I  tread  this  snow -clad  deck, 
never  again  creep  under  this  tent,  never  hear  the  laugh- 
ter ringr  in  this  familiar  saloon,  never  aQ;ain  sit  in  this 
friendly  circle. 

"  And  then  I  remember  that  when  the  Fram  at  last 
bursts  from  her  bonds  of  ice,  and  turns  her  prow  tow- 
ards Norway,  I  shall  not  be  with  her.  A  farewell  im- 
parts to  everything  in  life  its  own  tinge  of  sadness,  like 
the  crimson  rays  of  the  sun,  when  the  day,  good  or  bad, 
sinks  in  tears  below  the  horizon. 

"  Hundreds  of  times  my  eye  wanders  to  the  map 
hanging  there  on  the  wall,  and  each  time  a  chill  creeps 
over  me.  The  distance  before  us  seems  so  long,  and  the 
obstacles  in  our  path  may  be  many;  but  then  again  the 
feeling  comes  that  we  are  bound  to  pull  through :  it 
cannot  be  otherwise ;  everything  is  too  carefully  prepared 


78  FARTHEST  NORTH 

to  fail  now,  and  meanwhile  the  southeast  wind  is 
whistling  above  us,  and  we  are  continually  drifting 
northward  nearer  our  goal.  When  I  go  up  on  deck 
and  step  out  into  the  night  with  its  glittering  starry  vault 
and  the  flaring  aurora  borealis,  then  all  these  thoughts 
recede,  and  I  must,  as  ever,  pause  on  the  threshold  of 
this  sanctuary — this  dark,  deep,  silent  space,  this  infinite 
temple  of  nature,  in  which  the  soul  seeks  to  find  its  ori- 
gin. Toiling  ant,  what  matters  it  whether  you  reach 
your  goal  with  your  fir-needle  or  wo\.}  Everything  dis- 
appears none  the  less  in  the  ocean  of  eternity,  in  the 
great  Nirvana;  and  as  time  rolls  on  our  names  are  for- 
gotten, our  deeds  pass  into  oblivion,  and  our  lives  flit 
by  like  the  traces  of  a  cloud,  and  vanish  like  the  mist 
dispelled  by  the  warm  rays  of  the  sun.  Our  time  is 
but  a  fleeting  shadow,  hurrying  us  on  to  the  end — so  it 
is  ordained;  and  having  reached  that  end,  none  ever  re- 
traces his  steps. 

"  Two  of  us  will  soon  be  journeying  farther  through 
this  immense  waste,  into  greater  solitudes  and  deeper 
stillness. 

"  Wednesday,  January  30th.  To-day  the  great  event 
has  happened,  that  the  windmill  is  again  at  work  for  the 
first  time  after  its  long  rest.  In  spite  of  the  cold  and 
the  darkness,  Amundsen  had  got  the  cog-wheels  into 
order,  and  now  it  is  running  as  smoothly  and  steadily 
as  gutta-percha." 

We  have  now  constant  northeast  winds,  and  we  again 


THE  NEW    YEAR,   i8gs  8 1 

bore  northward.  On  Sunday,  February  3d,  we  were  at 
^^  43'.  The  time  for  our  departure  approached,  and 
the  preparations  were  carried  on  with  great  activity. 
The  sledges  were  completed,  and  I  tried  them  under 
various  conditions.  I  have  alluded  to  the  fact  that 
we  made  maple  guards  to  put  under  the  fixed  nickel- 
plated  runners.  The  idea  of  this  was  to  strengthen  both 
the  sledges  and  the  runners,  so  that  they  would  at  the 
beginning  of  the  journey,  when  the  loads  were  heavy, 
be  less  liable  to  breakage  from  the  jolting  to  which  they 
would  probably  be  exposed.  Later  on,  when  the  load 
got  lighter,  we  might,  if  we  thought  fit,  easily  remove 
them.  These  guards  were  also  to  serve  another  purpose. 
I  had  an  idea  that,  in  view  of  the  low  temperature  we 
had  during  the  winter,  and  on  the  dry  drift-snow  which 
then  covered  the  ice-floes,  metal  would  glide  less  easily 
than  smooth  wood,  especially  if  the  latter  were  well 
rubbed  with  rich  tar  and  stearine.  By  February  8th 
one  of  the  sledges  with  wooden  guard-runners  was  fin- 
ished, so  that  we  could  make  experiments  in  this  direc- 
tion, and  we  then  found  that  it  was  considerably  easier 
to  haul  than  a  similar  sledge  running  on  the  nickel- 
plate,  though  the  load  on  each  was  exactly  the  same. 
The  difference  was  so  great  that  we  found  that  it  was  at 
least  half  as  hard  again  to  draw  a  sledge  on  the  nickel 
runners  as  on  the  tarred  maple  runners. 

Our   new  ash  sledges  were  now   nearly  finished  and 
weighed  30  pounds  without  the  guard-runners.     "  Every- 

II.— 6 


82  FARTHEST  NORTH 

body  is  hard  at  work.  Sverdrup  is  sewing  bags  or 
bolsters  to  put  on  the  sledges  as  beds  for  the  kayaks  to 
rest  on.  To  this  end  the  bags  are  to  be  made  up  to  fit 
the  bottoms  of  the  boats.  Johansen  with  one  or  two 
other  men  are  stuffing  the  bags  with  pemmican,  which 
has  to  be  warmed,  beaten,  and  kneaded  in  order  to  give 
it  the  right  form  for  making  a  good  bed  for  our  precious 
boats.  When  these  square,  flat  bags  are  carried  out  into 
the  cold  they  freeze  as  hard  as  stone,  and  keep  their  form 
well.  Blessing  is  sitting  up  in  the  work-room,  copying 
the  photographs  of  which  I  have  no  prints.  Hansen  is 
working  out  a  map  of  our  route  so  far,  and  copying  out 
his  observations  for  us,  etc.,  etc.  In  short,  there  is 
hardly  a  man  on  board  who  does  not  feel  that  the  mo- 
ment for  departure  approaches;  perhaps  the  galley  is 
the  only  place  where  everything  goes  on  in  the  usual 
way  under  the  management  of  Lars.  Our  position 
yesterday  was  83°  32.1'  north  latitude  and  102°  28'  east 
longitude,  so  we  are  southward  again  ;  but  never  mind, 
what  do  a  couple  of  miles  more  or  less  matter  to  us } 

"  Sunday,  February  loth.  To-day  there  was  so  much 
daylight  that  at  i  o'clock  I  could  fairly  well  read  the 
Verdeiis  Gang,  when  I  held  the  paper  up  towards  the 
light ;  but  when  I  held  it  towards  the  moon,  which  was 
low  in  the  north,  it  was  no  go.  Before  dinner  I  went  for 
a  short  drive  with  '  Gulen'  and  '  Susine'  (two  of  the 
young  dogs)  and  '  Kaifas.'  '  Gulen'  had  never  been  in 
harness    before,  but    yet    she    went  quite  well ;  she  was 


THE   NE]V    YEAR,    i8<ps 


85 


certainly  a  little  awkward  at  first,  but  that  soon  dis- 
appeared, and  I  think  she  will  make  a  good  dog  when 
she  is  well  trained.  '  Susine,'  who  was  driven  a  little 
last  autumn,  conducted  herself  quite  like  an  old  sledge- 


tiX/ 


STOPPING    A    DOG-FIGHT 


dog.  The  surface  is  hard,  and  easy  for  the  dogs  to  haul 
on.  They  get  a  good  foothold,  and  the  snow*  is  not 
particularly  sharp  for  their  feet ;  however,  it  is  not  over- 
smooth  ;  this  drift-snow  makes  heavy  going.  The  ice  is 
smooth,  and  easy  to  run  on,  and  I  trust  we  shall  be  able 
to  make  good  day-journeys  ;  after  all,  we  shall  reach  our 
destination  sooner  than  we  had  expected.  I  cannot  deny 
that  it  is  a  long  journey,  and  scarcely  any  one  has  ever 
more  effectually   burned  his  boats   behind   him.     If   we 


86  FARTHEST  NORTH 

wished  to  turn  back  we  have  absolutely  nothing  to  return 
to,  not  even  a  bare  coast.  It  will  be  impossible  to  find 
the  ship,  and  before  us  lies  the  great  unknown.  But 
there  is  only  one  road,  and  that  lies  straight  ahead,  right 
through,  be  it  land  or  sea,  be  it  smooth  or  rough,  be 
it  mere  ice  or  ice  and  water.  And  I  cannot  but  believe 
that  we  nmst  get  through,  even  if  we  should  meet  with 
the  worst — viz.,  land  and  pack-ice. 

"  Wednesday,  February  1 3th.  The  pemmican  bolsters 
and  dried-liver  pie  are  now  ready  ;  the  kayaks  will  get 
an  excellent  bedding,  and  I  venture  to  say  that  such 
meat-bolsters  are  an  absolute  novelty.  Under  each 
kayak  there  are  three  of  them,  they  are  made  to  fit  the 
sledge,  and,  as  already  stated,  are  moulded  to  the  shape 
of  the  kayak.  They  weigh  100  to  120  pounds  each. 
The  empty  sacks  weigh  2  or  3  pounds  each,  so  that  alto- 
gether the  meat  (pemmican  and  liver  pie)  in  these  three 
bags  will  weigh  about  320  pounds.  We  each  had  our  light 
sleeping-bags  of  reindeer-skin,  and  we  tried  to  sleep  out 
in  them  last  night,  but  both  Johansen  and  I  found  it 
rather  cold,  although  it  was  only  37""  Fahr.  of  frost. 
We  were,  perhaps,  too  lightly  clad  under  the  wolfskin 
clothing ;  we  are  making  another  experiment  with  a  little 
more  on  to-night. 

"Saturday,  February  i6th.  The  outfitting  is  still 
progressing;  but  there  are  various  small  things  yet  to 
do  which  take  time,  and  I  do  not  know  whether  we  shall 
be  ready    to  start    on  Wednesday,   February  20th,  as   I 


THE  NEW  YEAR,   iSgs  89 

originally  intended.  The  day  is  now  so  light  that,  so  far 
as  that  is  concerned,  we  might  quite  well  start  then ;  but 
perhaps  we  had  better  wait  a  day  or  two  longer.  Three 
sledge -sails  (for  single  sledges)  are  now  finished;  they 
are  made  of  very  light  calico,  and  are  about  7  feet  2 
inches  broad  by  4  feet  4  inches  long ;  they  are  made  so 
that  two  of  them  may  be  laced  together  and  used  as  one 
sail  for  a  double  sledge,  and  I  believe  they  will  act  well ; 
they  weigh  a  little  over  one  pound  each.  Moreover,  we 
have  now  most  of  the  provisions  ready  stowed  away  in 
bags." 


CHAPTER    III 


WE    MAKE    A    START 


"  Tuesday,  February  26th.  At  last  the  day  has  ar- 
rived, the  great  day,  when  the  journey  is  to  commence. 
The  week  has  passed  in  untiring  work  to  get  everything 
ready.  We  should  have  started  on  the  20th,  but  it  has 
been  postponed  from  day  to  day;  there  was  always  some- 
thing still  to  do.  My  head  has  been  full  night  and  day, 
with  all  that  was  to  be  done  and  that  must  not  be  for- 
gotten. Oh,  this  unceasing  mental  strain,  which  does 
not  allow  a  minute's  respite  in  which  to  throw  off  the 
responsibility,  to  give  loose  rein  to  the  thoughts,  and  let 
the  dreams  have  full  sway!  The  nerves  are  in  a  state  of 
tension  from  the  moment  of  awaking  in  the  morning  till 
the  eyes  close  late  at  night.  Ah  !  how  well  I  know  this 
state,  which  I  have  experienced  each  time  I  have  been 
about  to  set  out  and  retreat  was  to  be  cut  off — never,  I 
believe,  more  effectually  than  now !  The  last  few  nights 
I  did  not  get  to  bed  before  half-past  three  or  half-past 
four  o'clock  in  the  morning.  It  is  not  only  what  we 
oueht  to  take  with  us  that  has  to  be  taken  care  of,  but 
we  have  to  leave  the  vessel ;  its  command  and  responsi- 


JF£   MAKE   A    START  91 

bility  have  to  be  placed  in  other  hands,  and  care  must  be 
taken  that  nothing  is  forgotten  in  the  way  of  instructions 
to  the  men  who  remain,  as  the  scientific  observations 
will  have  to  be  continued  on  the  same  lines  as  they  have 
been  carried  on  hitherto,  and  other  observations  of  all 
kinds  will  have  to  be  made,  etc.,  etc." 

The  last  night  we  were  to  spend  on  board  the  Fram 
eventually  arrived,  and  we  had  a  farewell  party.  In  a 
strange,  sad  way,  reminiscences  were  revived  of  all  that 
had  befallen  us  here  on  board,  mingled  with  hope  and 
trust  in  what  the  future  would  bring.  I  remained  up  till 
far  into  the  night ;  letters  and  remembrances  had  to  be 
sent  to  those  at  home,  in  case  the  unforeseen  should  hap- 
pen. Among  the  last  things  I  wrote  were  the  following 
instructions  to  Sverdrup,  in  which  I  handed  over  to  him 
the  command  of  the  expedition : 

"  Captain  Otto  Sverdrup,  Commander  of  the  Fram  : 

"  As  I  am  now  leaving  the  Fram,  accompanied  by 
Johansen,  to  undertake  a  journey  northward — if  possible, 
to  the  Pole — and  from  there  to  Spitzbergen,  most  likely 
via  Franz  Josef  Land,  I  make  over  to  you  the  command 
of  the  remaining  part  of  the  expedition.  From  the  day 
I  leave  the  Fram,  all  the  authority  which  hitherto  was 
vested  in  me  shall  devolve  upon  you  to  an  equal  extent, 
and  the  others  will  have  to  render  absolute  obedience  to 
you,  or  to  whomsoever  you  may  depute  as  their  leader.  I 
consider  it  superfluous  to  give  any  orders  about  what  is 


92  FARTHEST  NORTH 

to  be  done  under  various  contingencies,  even  if  it  were 
possible  to  give  any.  I  am  certain  you  will  know  best 
yourself  what  ought  to  be  done  in  any  emergency,  and  I 
therefore  consider  that  I  may  with  confidence  leave  the 
Frain. 

"  The  chief  aim  of  the  expedition  is  to  push  through 
the  unknown  Polar  Sea  from  the  region  around  the  New 
Siberian  Islands,  north  of  Franz  Josef  Land,  and  on- 
ward to  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  near  Spitzbergen  or  Green- 
land. The  most  essential  part  of  this  task,  I  consider, 
we  have  already  accomplished ;  the  remainder  will  be 
achieved  as  the  expedition  gets  farther  west.  In  order  to 
make  the  expedition  still  more  fruitful  of  results,  I  am 
making  an  attempt  to  push  farther  up  north  with  the 
dogs.  Your  task  will  then  be  to  convey  home,  in  the 
safest  manner  possible,  the  human  lives  now  confided  to 
your  care,  and  not  to  expose  them  to  any  unnecessary 
danger,  either  out  of  regard  for  the  ship  or  cargo,  or  for 
the  scientific  outcome  of  the  expedition.  No  one  can  tell 
how  long  it  may  take  before  the  Fram  drifts  out  into  open 
water.  You  have  provisions  for  several  years  to  come ;  if 
for  any  unknown  reason  it  should  take  too  long,  or  if  the 
crew  should  begin  to  suffer  in  health,  or  if  from  other 
reasons  you  should  think  it  best  to  abandon  the  vessel,  it 
should  unquestionably  be  done.  As  to  the  time  of  the 
year  when  this  should  be  done,  and  the  route  to  be  chos- 
en, you  yourself  will  be  best  able  to  judge.  If  it  should 
be  necessary,   I   consider   Franz   Josef    Land  and   Spitz- 


> 

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O 
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c: 

> 

< 

to 
-4i- 


00 


IV£   MAKE   A    STAR 7'  95 

bergen  favorable  lands  to  make  for.  If  search  is  made 
for  the  expedition  after  the  arrival  home  .of  Johansen 
and  myself,  it  will  be  made  there  first.  Wherever  you 
come  to  land,  you  should,  as  often  as  you  can,  erect  con- 
spicuous beacons  on  promontories  and  projecting  head- 
lands, and  place  within  the  beacons  a  short  report  of 
what  has  occurred,  and  whither  you  are  going.  In  order 
to  distinguish  these  beacons  from  others,  a  small  beacon 
should  be  erected  4  metres  from  the  larger  one  in  the 
direction  of  the  magnetic  North  Pole.  The  question  as 
to  what  outfit  would  be  most  advantageous  in  case  the 
Frani  should  have  to  be  abandoned  is  one  which  we  have 
so  frequently  discussed  that  I  consider  it  superfluous  to 
dwell  on  it  here.  I  know  that  you  will  take  care  that 
the  requisite  number  of  kayaks  for  all  the  men,  sledges, 
snow-shoes,  '  truger,'  and  other  articles  of  outfit  are  put 
in  complete  order  as  soon  as  possible,  and  kept  in  readi- 
ness, so  that  such  a  journey  home  over  the  ice  could  be 
undertaken  with  the  greatest  possible  ease.  Elsewhere  I 
give  you  directions  as  to  the  provisions  which  I  consider 
most  suitable  for  such  a  journey,  and  the  quantity  neces- 
sary for  each  man. 

"  I  also  know  that  you  will  hold  everything  in  readi- 
ness to  abandon  the  Frain  in  the  shortest  possible  time 
in  the  event  of  her  suffering  sudden  damage,  whether 
through  fire  or  ice -pressure.  If  the  ice  permits  it,  I 
consider  it  advisable  that  a  depot,  with  sufficient  provi- 
sions, etc.,  should  be  established  at  a  safe  place  on  the 


96  FARTHEST  NORTH 

ice,  such  as  we  have  lately  had.  All  necessaries  which 
cannot  be  kept  on  the  ice  ought  to  be  so  placed  on  board 
that  they  are  easy  to  get  at  under  any  circumstances.  As 
you  are  aware,  all  the  provisions  now  in  the  depot  are  con- 
centrated foods  for  sledging  journeys  only;  but  as  it  may 
happen  that  you  will  have  to  remain  inactive  for  a  time 
before  going  farther,  it  would  be  highly  desirable  to  save 
as  much  tinned  meat,  fish,  and  vegetables  as  possible; 
should  troublous  times  come  then,  I  should  consider  it 
advisable  to  have  a  supply  of  these  articles  ready  on  the 
ice. 

"  Should  the  Fram  while  drifting  be  carried  far  to 
the  north  of  Spitzbergen,  and  get  over  into  the  current 
under  the  east  coast  of  Greenland,  many  possibilities  may 
be  imagined  which  it  is  not  easy  to  form  an  opinion  on 
now;  but  should  you  be  obliged  to  abandon  the  Fram 
and  make  for  the  land,  it  would  be  best  for  you  to  erect 
beacons  there,  as  stated  above  (with  particulars  as  to 
whither  you  are  going,  etc.),  as  search  might  possibly 
be  made  there  for  the  expedition.  Whether  in  that  case 
you  ought  to  make  for  Iceland  (which  is  the  nearest 
land,  and  where  you  should  be  able  to  get  in  the  early 
part  of  summer,  if  following  the  edge  of  the  ice),  or 
for  the  Danish  colonies  west  of  Cape  Farewell,  you 
will  be  best  able  to  judge  on  considering  all  the  circum- 
stances. 

"  As  regards  what  you  ought  to  take  with  you  in  the 
event  of  abandoning  the   Fram,  besides    the   necessary 


;% 


WE   MAKE   A    START  97 

provisions,  I  may  mention  weapons,  ammunition,  and 
equipment,  all  scienlijic  and  other  journals  and  obser- 
vations, all  scientific  collections  that  arc  not  too  heavy,  or, 
if  too  heav3^  small  samples  thereof;  photographs,  pref- 
erably the  original  plates  (or  films);  or  should  these 
prove  too  heavy,  then  prints  taken  from  them ;  also  the 
'  Aderman  '  aerometer,  with  which  most  of  the  observa- 
tions on  the  specific  gravity  of  sea-water  are  taken  ;  as 
well  as,  of  course,  all  journals  and  memoranda  which 
are  of  any  interest.  I  leave  behind  some  diaries  and 
letters,  which  I  would  request  you  to  take  special  care  of 
and  deliver  to  Eva  if  I  should  not  return  home,  or  if, 
contrary  to  all  expectation,  you  should  return  home  be- 
fore us. 

"  Hansen  and  Blessing  will,  as  you  know,  attend  to 
the  various  scientific  expeditions  and  to  the  collecting 
of  specimens.  You  yourself  will  attend  to  the  sound- 
ings, and  see  that  they  are  taken  as  frequently  as  possible 
and  as  the  condition  of  the  line  permits.  I  should  con- 
sider at  least  once  in  every  60  miles  covered  to  be  ex- 
tremely desirable ;  if  it  can  be  done  oftener  so  much  the 
better.  Should  the  depth  become  less  than  now  and 
more  variable,  it  goes  without  saying  that  soundings 
should  be  taken  more  frequently. 

"  As  the  crew  was  small  before,  and  will  nbw  be  still 

further   reduced   by   two   men,  more  work  will   probably 

fall   to  each   man's   lot ;  but  I  know   that,  whenever  you 

can,  you   will   spare   men   to   assist   in    the  scientific  ob- 
11.-7 


98  FARTHEST  NORTH 

servations,  and  make  them  as  complete  as  possible. 
Please  also  see  that  every  tenth  day  (the  first,  tenth, 
and  twentieth  of  every  month)  the  ice  is  bored  through, 
and  the  thickness  measured,  in  the  same  way  as  has 
been  done  hitherto.  Henriksen  has  for  the  most  part 
made  these  borings,  and  is  a  trustworthy  man  for  this 
work. 

"  In  conclusion,  I  wish  all  possible  success  to  you,  and 
to  those  for  whom  you  are  now  responsible,  and  may  we 
meet  again  in  Norway,  whether  it  be  on  board  of  this 
vessel  or  without  her. 

"  Yours  affectionately, 

"  Fridtjof  Nansen. 

"  On  board  the  Frain, 

"  February  25,  1895." 

"  Now  at  last  the  brain  was  to  get  some  rest,  and  the 
work  for  the  legs  and  arms  to  commence.  Everything 
was  got  ready  for  the  start  this  morning.  Five  of  our 
comrades,  Sverdrup,  Hansen,  Blessing,  Henriksen,  and 
Mogstad,  were  to  see  us  off  on  our  way,  bringing  a 
sledge  and  a  tent  with  them.  The  four  sledges  were  got 
ready,  the  dogs  harnessed  to  them,  lunch,  with  a  bottle 
of  malt  extract  per  man,  was  taken  just  before  start- 
ing, and  then  we  bade  the  last  hearty  farewell  to  those 
left  behind.  We  were  off  into  the  drifting  snow.  I 
myself  took  the  lead  with  '  Kvik '  as  leading  dog,  in  the 
first  sledge,  and  then  sledge  after  sledge  followed  amid 


IV£  MAKE   A    START  99 

cheers,  accompanied  by  the  cracking  of  whips  and  the 
barking  of  dogs.  At  the  same  time  a  salute  was  fired 
from  the  quarter-deck,  shot  after  shot,  into  the  whirlino- 
drift.  The  sledges  moved  heavily  forward ;  it  was  slow 
travelling  uphill,  and  they  came  to  a  dead  stop  where 
the  ascent  was  too  steep,  and  we  all  had  to  help  them 
along — one  man  alone  could  not  do  it ;  but  over  level 
ground  we  flew  along  like  a  whirlwind,  and  those  on 
snow-shoes  found  it  difficult  enough  to  keep  pace  with 
the  sledges.  I  had  to  strike  out  as  best  I  could  when 
they  came  up  to  me  to  avoid  getting  my  legs  entangled 
in  the  line.  A  man  is  beckoning  with  his  staff  far  in 
the  rear.  It  is  Mogstad,  who  comes  tearing  along  and 
shouting  that  three  '  flbitstokker '  *  (crossbars)  had  been 
torn  off  a  sledge  in  driving.  The  sledge,  with  its  heavy 
load,  had  lurched  forward  over  an  upright  piece  of  ice, 
which  struck  the  crossbars,  breaking  all  three  of  them, 
one  after  the  other;  one  or  two  of  the  perpendicular 
supports  of  the  runners  were  also  smashed.  There  was 
nothing  for  it  but  to  return  to  the  ship  to  get  it  repaired 
and  have  the  sledojes  made  stronsfer.  Such  a  thinsf 
ought  not  to  happen  again.  During  the  return  one  of 
the  sledges  lurched  up  against  another,  and  a  cane  in  the 
bow  snapped.  The  bows  would,  therefore,  also  have  to 
be  made  stronger,  f 

*  The  crossbars  on   the  sledge  that  connect  the  perpendicular  sup- 
ports of  the  runners  with  each  other. 

t  The  sledge  runners  were  connected  in  front  by  a  bow,  consisting  of 


lOO  FARTHEST  NORTH 

"  The  sledges  have  again  been  unloaded  and  brought 
on  board  in  order  that  this  may  be  done,  and  here  we  are 
again  to-night.  I  am  glad,  however,  that  this  happened 
when  it  did  ;  it  would  have  been  worse  to  have  had 
such  an  experience  a  few  days  later.  I  will  now  take 
six  sledges  instead  of  four,  so  that  the  load  on  each  may 
be  less,  and  so  that  it  will  be  easier  to  lift  them  over  the 
irregularities  of  the  ground.  I  shall  also  have  a  broad 
board  fitted  lengthwise  to  the  sledge,  underneath  the 
crossbars,  so  as  to  protect  them  against  projecting  pieces 
of  ice.  As  a  great  deal  of  time  is  saved  in  the  end  by 
doing  such  things  thoroughly  before  starting,  we  shall 
not  be  ready  to  start  before  the  day  after  to-morrow.  It 
seemed  strange  to  be  on  board  again  after  having  said 
good-bye,  as  I  thought,  forever,  to  these  surroundings. 
When  1  came  up  on  the  after -deck,  I  found  the  guns 
lying  there  in  the  snow,  one  of  them  turned  over  on  its 
back,  the  other  had  recoiled  a  long  way  aft,  when  sa- 
luting us  ;  from  the  mizzen-top  the  red  and  black  flag 
was  still  waving. 

"  I  am  in  wonderfully  high  spirits,  and  feel  confident 
of  success;  the  sledges  seemed  to  glide  so  easily,  although 
carrying  200  pounds  more  than  was  originally  intended 
(about  2200  pounds  altogether),  and  everything  looks 
very  promising.  We  shall  have  to  wait  a  couple  of  days, 
but  as  we  are  having  a  southeasterly  wind  all  day  long, 

three  or  four  pieces  of  rattan  cane  lashed  together;  it  is  to  this  bow  the 
hauhng-Hnes  are  fastened. 


WE   MAKE   A    START  lOi 

we  are  no  doubt  getting  on  towards  the  north,  all  the 
same.  Yesterday  we  were  ^t,°  47';  to-day  I  suppose  we 
are  at  least  83''  50." 

At  last,  on  Thursday,  February  28th,  we  started  again 
with  our  six  sledges.  Sverdrup,  Hansen,  Blessing,  Hen- 
riksen,  and  Mogstad  saw  us  off.  When  we  started,  most 
of  the  others  also  accompanied  us  some  distance.  We 
soon  found  that  the  dogs  did  not  draw  as  well  as  I  had 
expected,  and  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  with  this 
load  we  should  get  on  too  slowly.  We  had  not  pro- 
ceeded far  from  the  ship  before  I  decided  to  leave  be- 
hind some  of  the  sacks  with  provisions  for  the  dogs, 
and  these  were  later  on  taken  back  on  board  by  the 
others. 

At  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when  we  stopped,  our 
odometer*  showed  that  we  had  gone  about  4  miles  from 
the  Fram.  We  had  a  pleasant  evening  in  the  tent,  to- 
gether with  our  friends  who  were  going  back  the  next 
day.  To  my  surprise  a  punch-bowl  was  prepared,  and 
toasts  were  proposed  for  those  who  were  starting  and 
those  who  remained  behind.  It  was  not  until  1 1  o'clock 
that  we  crept  into  our  sleeping-bags. 

There  were  illuminations  in  our  honor  that  night 
on  board  the  Fram.  The  electric  arc  lamp  was  hoist- 
ed on  the   maintop,  and   the   electric   light  for  the  first 

*  This  odometer  had  been  made  on  board,  shortly  before  starting,  out 
of  the  works  of  an  old  anemometer.  The  odometer  was  fastened  behind 
the  last  sledge,  and  indicated  fairly  correctly  the  distance  covered  by  us. 


I02  FARTHEST  NORTH 

time  shone  forth  over  the  ice  masses  of  the  Polar  Sea. 
Torches  had  also  been  lit,  and  bonfires  of  oakum-ends 
and  other  combustibles  were  burning  on  several  floes 
around  the  Fram  and  making  a  brilliant  show.  Sver- 
drup  had,  by-the-way,  given  orders  that  the  electric  light 
or  a  lantern  should  be  hoisted  on  the  maintop  every 
night  until  he  and  the  others  had  returned,  for  fear  they 
might  lose  their  way  if  the  tracks  should  be  obliterated 
by  bad  weather.  It  would  then  be  very  difficult  to  find 
the  ship;  but  such  a  light  can  be  seen  a  long  distance 
over  these  plains,  where  by  merely  standing  on  a  hum- 
mock one  can  easily  get  a  view  for  many  miles  round. 

I  was  afraid  that  the  dogs,  if  they  got  loose,  would 
go  back  to  the  Fram,  and  I  therefore  got  two  steel 
lines  made,  to  which  short  leashes  were  fastened  a  little 
distance  apart,  so  that  the  dogs  could  be  secured  to 
these  lines  between  two  sticks  or  sledges.  In  spite  of 
this,  several  of  the  dogs  got  loose ;  but,  strange  to  say, 
they  did  not  leave  us,  but  remained  with  their  comrades 
and  us.  There  was,  of  course,  a  doleful  howling  round 
the  tents  the  first  night,  and  they  disturbed  our  sleep 
to  some  extent. 

The  next  morning  (Friday,  March  ist)  it  took  one 
of  our  comrades  three  hours  to  make  the  coffee,  being 
unaccustomed  to  the  apparatus.  We  then  had  a  very 
nice  breakfast  together.  Not  before  11.30  a.m.  did  we 
get  under  way.  Our  five  comrades  accompanied  us  for 
an  hour  or  two  and  then  turned  to  get  back  to  the  Fram 


00 
vO 


IV£   MAKE   A    START  105 

the  same  evening,  "  It  was  certainly  a  most  cheerful 
good-bye,"  says  the  diary,  "  but  it  is  always  hard  to  part, 
even  at  84°,  and  maybe  there  was  a  tearful  eye  or  two." 
The  last  thing  Sverdrup  asked  me  when  sitting  on  his 
sledge,  just  as  we  were  about  to  part,  was,  if  I  thought  I 
should  go  to  the  South  Pole  when  I  got  home ;  for  if  so, 
he  hoped  I  would  wait  till  he  arrived ;  and  then  he  asked 
me  to  give  his  love  to  his  wife  and  child. 

And  so  we  proceeded,  Johansen  and  I,  but  it  was 
slow  work  for  us  alone  with  six  sledges,  which  were 
impeded  on  their  way  by  all  sorts  of  obstacles  and 
inequalities.  Besides  this,  the  ice  became  rougher,  so 
that  it  was  difficult  to  get  on  during  the  afternoon  on 
account  of  the  darkness,  the  days  being  still  very  short 
and  the  sun  was  not  yet  above  the  horizon.  We  there- 
fore camped  rather  early. 

"  Wednesday,  March  6th.  We  are  again  on  board 
the  Fram  to  make  a  fresh  start,  for  the  third  time,  and 
then,  I  suppose,  it  will  be  in  earnest.  On  Saturday, 
March  2d,  we  proceeded  with  the  six  sledges  after  I 
had  been  a  trip  to  the  northward  and  found  it  passable. 
Progress  was  slow,  and  we  had  to  do  nearly  six  turns 
each,  as  the  sledges  stopped  everywhere  and  had  to  be 
helped  along.  I  saw  now  too  clearly  that  we  should 
never  get  on  in  this  manner;  a  change  would  have  to  be 
made,  and  I  decided  to  camp  in  order  to  have  a  look  at 
the  ice  northward  and  consider  the  matter.  Having  tied 
up  the  dogs,  I   set  out,  while  Johansen  was  to  feed  the 


io6  FARTHEST  NORTH 

dogs  and  put  up  the  tent.  They  were  fed  once  in  every 
24  hours,  at  night,  when  the  day's  march  was  done. 

"  I  had  not  gone  far  when  I  came  upon  excellent 
spacious  plains ;  good  progress  could  be  made,  and  so  far 
everything  was  all  right ;  but  the  load  had  to  be  diminished 
and  the  number  of  sledges  reduced.  Undoubtedly,  there- 
fore, it  would  be  best  to  return  to  the  Fram  to  make  the 
necessary  alterations  on  board,  and  get  the  sledges  we 
were  to  take  with  us  further  strengthened,  so  as  to  have 
perfect  confidence  in  their  durability. 

"We  might,  of  course,  have  dragged  along  somehow 
towards  the  north  for  a  while,  and  the  load  would  gradu- 
ally have  decreased  ;  but  it  would  have  been  slow  work, 
and  before  the  load  would  be  sufficiently  lightened  the 
dogs  would  perhaps  be  worn  out.  It  was  cold  for  them 
at  night ;  we  heard  many  of  them  howling  most  of  the 
night.  If,  however,  we  diminished  the  load,  and  conse- 
quently allowed  a  shorter  time  for  the  journey,  it  would 
be  preferable  to  wait,  and  not  start  till  a  little  later  in  the 
month,  when  we  could  make  more  out  of  the  time,  as  the 
days  would  be  lighter  and  not  so  cold  and  the  snow- 
surface  better.  Having  spent  another  night  in  the  tent 
— into  which  it  was  a  hard  job  to  get,  dressed  in  a  fur 
that  was  stiff  with  frost,  and  then  into  a  bag  that  was 
also  hard  frozen  —  I  decided  next  morning  (Sunday, 
March  3d)  to  return  to  the  Fram.  I  harnessed  a 
double  team  of  dogs  to  one  of  the  sledges,  and  off  they 
went   over  pressure  -  ridges   and    all    other    obstacles    so 


WE   MAKE   A    START 


107 


rapidly  that  I  could  hardly  keep  up  with  them.  In  a 
few  hours  I  covered  the  same  distance  which  had  taken 
us  three  days  when  we  started  out.  The  advantage  of 
a  lighter  load  was  only  too  apparent. 

"  As  I  approached  the  Fram  I  saw,  to  my  surprise,  the 
upper  edge  of  the  sun  above  the  ice  in  the  south.     It 


SUNDAY    AFTERNOON    ON    BOARD 


was  the  first  time  this  year,  but  I  had  not  expected  it  as 
yet.  It  was  the  refraction  caused  by  the  low  temperature 
which  made  it  visible  so  soon.  The  first  news  I  heard 
from  those  who  came  to  meet  me  was  that   Hansen  had 


io8  FARTHEST  NORTH 

the  previous  afternoon  taken  an  observation,  which  gave 
84°  4^  north  latitude. 

"  It  was  undoubtedly  very  pleasant  once  more  to 
stretch  my  limbs  on  the  sofa  in  the  Frams  saloon,  to 
quench  my  thirst  in  delicious  lime-juice  with  sugar,  and 
ag^ain  to  dine  in  a  civilized  manner.  In  the  afternoon 
Hansen  and  Nordahl  went  back  to  Johansen  with  my 
team  of  dogs,  to  keep  him  company  overnight.  When  I 
left  him  it  was  understood  that  he  was  to  start  on  the 
return  journey  as  best  he  could,  until  I  came  with  others 
to  help  him.  The  dogs  lost  no  time,  and  the  two  men 
reached  johansen's  tent  in  an  hour  and  twenty  minutes. 
At  night  both  they  and  we  had  rejoicings  in  honor  of 
the  sun  and  the  84th  degree. 

"  The  next  morning  three  of  us  went  off  and  fetched 
the  sledges  back.  Now,  when  we  made  for  the  ship,  the 
dogs  dragged  much  better,  and  in  a  short  time  we  should 
have  been  on  board  had  it  not  been  for  a  long  lane  in  the 
ice  which  we  could  see  no  end  to,  and  which  stopped  us. 
Finally  we  left  the  sledges  and,  together  with  the  dogs, 
managed  to  cross  over  on  some  loose  pieces  of  ice  and 
got  on  board.  Yesterday  we  twice  tried  to  fetch  the 
sledges,  but  there  had  evidently  been  some  movement  in 
the  lane,  and  the  new  ice  was  still  so  thin  that  we  dared 
not  trust  it.  We  have,  however,  to  -  day  got  them  on 
board,  and  we  will  now  for  the  last  time,  it  is  to  be  hoped, 
prepare  ourselves  for  the  journey.  I  will  now  plan  out 
the  journey  so  as  to  take  the  shortest  possible  time,  using 


W£    MAKE   A    START  109 

light  sledges  and  tearing  along  as  fast  as  legs  and  snow- 
shoes  will  carry  us.  We  shall  be  none  the  worse  for  this 
delay,  provided  we  do  not  meet  too  much  pack-ice  or  too 
many  openings  in  the  ice. 

"  I  have  weighed  all  the  dogs  and  have  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  we  can  feed  them  on  each  other  and  keep 
going  for  about  fifty  days;  having,  in  addition  to  this,  dog 
provisions  for  about  thirty  days,  we  ought  to  be  able  to 
travel  with  dogs  for  eighty  days,  and  in  that  time  it  seems 
to  me  we  should  have  arrived  somewhere.  And,  besides, 
we  have  provisions  for  ourselves  for  one  hundred  days. 
This  will  be  about  440  pounds  on  each  sledge  if  we 
take  three,  and  with  nine  dogs  per  sledge  we  ought  to 
manage  it." 

So  here  we  were  again,  busy  with  preparations  and 
improvements.  In  the  meantime  the  ice  moved  a  little, 
broke  up,  and  lanes  were  formed  in  various  directions. 
On  March  8th  I  say :  "  The  crack  in  the  large  floe  to 
starboard,  formed  while  we  were  away,  opened  yesterday 
into  a  broad  lane,  which  we  can  see  stretching  with  new- 
ly frozen  ice  towards  the  horizon,  both  north  and  south. 
It  is  odd  how  that  petroleum  launch  is  always  in  '  hot 
water '  wherever  it  is.  This  crack  formed  underneath  it, 
so  it  was  hanQ-ino:  with  the  stern  over  the  water  when 
they  found  it  in  the  morning.  We  have  now  decided  to 
cut  it  up  and  use  the  elm-boards  for  the  sledge-runners. 
That  will  be  the  end  of  it. 

"  Wednesday,  March    13th.     84°    north    latitude,    101° 


no  FARTHEST  NORTH 

55'  east  longitude.  The  days  have  passed,  working  again 
at  the  equipment.  Everything  is  now  in  order.  Three 
sledges  are  standing  ready  out  on  the  ice,  properly 
strengthened  in  every  way,  with  iron  fastenings  between 
uprights  and  crossbars.  These  last-mentioned  are  secure- 
ly strengthened  with  extra  top -pieces  of  ash,  and  pro- 
tected underneath  by  boards.  This  afternoon  we  tried 
the  dogs  with  sledges  loaded,  and  they  went  as  easily  as 
could  be,  and  to-morrow  we  start  again  for  the  last  time, 
full  of  courage  and  confidence  and  with  the  sun  up,  in 
the  assurance  that  we  are  going  towards  ever  brighter 
days. 

"  To-night  there  has  been  a  great  farewell  feast,  with 
many  hearty  speeches,  and  to-morrow  we  depart  as 
early  as  possible,  provided  our  dissipation  has  not  de- 
layed us.  I  have  to-night  added  the  following  postscript 
to  Sverdrup's  instructions  : 

'"P.S. — In  the  foregoing  instructions,  which  I  wrote 
rather  hurriedly  on  the  night  of  February  25th,  I  omitted 
to  mention  things  that  should  have  been  alluded  to.  I 
will  restrict  myself  here  to  stating,  further,  that  should  you 
sight  unknown  land,  everything  ought,  of  course,  to  be 
done  in  order  to  ascertain  and  examine  it,  as  far  as  cir- 
cumstances will  permit.  Should  the  Fram  drift  so  near 
that  you  think  it  can  be  reached  without  great  risk, 
everything  that  can  be  done  to  explore  the  land  would 
be  of  the  greatest  interest.      Every  stone,  every  blade  of 


W£   MAKE  A    START  in 

grass,  lichen,  or  moss,  every  animal,  from  the  largest  to 
the  smallest,  would  be  of  great  importance ,  photographs, 
and  an  exact  description  should  not  be  neglected ;  at  the 
same  time,  it  should  be  traversed  to  the  greatest  possible 
extent,  in  order  to  ascertain  its  coast-line,  size,  Qtc.  All 
such  things  should,  however,  only  be  done,  provided 
they  can  be  accomplished  without  danger.  If  the  Frain 
is  adrift  in  the  ice,  it  is  clear  that  only  short  excursions 
should  be  made  from  her,  as  the  members  of  such  ex- 
peditions might  encounter  great  difficulties  in  reaching 
the  vessel  again.  Should  the  Fram  remain  stationary 
for  any  time,  such  expeditions  should  still  be  undertaken 
only  with  great  discretion,  and  not  be  extended  over 
any  great  length  of  time,  as  no  one  can  foresee  when  she 
may  commence  to  drift  again,  and  it  would  be  very  un- 
desirable for  all  concerned  if  the  crew  of  the  Fram  were 
to  be  still  further  reduced. 

'"We  have  so  often  spoken  together  about  the  scien- 
tific researches,  that  I  do  not  consider  it  necessary  to 
give  any  further  suggestions  here.  I  am  certain  that  you 
will  do  everything  in  your  power  to  make  them  as  perfect 
as  possible,  so  that  the  expedition  may  return  with  as 
good  results  as  the  circumstances  will  permit.  And  now 
once  again,  my  wishes  for  all  possible  success,  and  may 
we  meet  again  before  long. 

" '  Your  affectionate, 

" '  Fridtjof  Nansen. 

" '  The /v'<2;;/,  March  13,  1895."" 


112  FARTHEST  NORTH 

Before  leaving  the  Frani  for  good  I  ought,  perhaps,  to 
give  a  short  account  of  the  equipment  we  finally  decided 
on  as  the  most  likely  to  suit  our  purposes. 

I  have  already  mentioned  the  two  kayaks  that 
had  been  made  during  the  course  of  the  winter, 
and  that  we  required  to  have  with  us  in  order  to 
cross  possible  channels  and  pools,  and  also  for  use 
when  we  should  come  to  open  sea.  Instead  of  these 
kayaks,  I  had  at  first  thought  of  taking  ready-made  can- 
vas boat -covers,  and  of  using  the  sledges  as  frames  to 
stretch  them  over.  By  this  means  a  craft  perfectly 
capable  of  carrying  us  over  lanes  and  short  bits  of  open 
sea  could  have  been  rigged  up  in  a  very  short  space  of 
time.  I  subsequently  gave  up  this  idea,  however,  and 
decided  on  the  kayak,  a  craft  with  which  I  was  fa- 
miliar, and  which  I  knew  would  render  valuable  assist- 
ance in  several  respects.  Even  if  we  had  been  able  to 
contrive  a  cover  for  the  sledges  in  such  a  manner  that  a 
boat  could  have  been  got  ready  in  a  short  space  of  time, 
it  would  not  have  been  such  quick  work  as  simply 
launching  a  ready-made  kayak.  Added  to  this,  the  craft 
would,  necessarily,  have  been  heavy  to  row ;  and  when  it 
was  a  question  of  long  distances  in  open  water,  such  as 
along  the  coasts  of  Franz  Josef  Land,  or  across  thence 
to  Spitzbergen,  much  time  would  have  been  lost.  One 
consideration  indeed,  and  that  of  some  moment,  was  the 
saving  in  weight  if  the  sledges  were  made  use  of;  but 
even  this  was  not  of  so  much  importance  as  it  seemed, 


JV£   MAKE   A    START  113 

as  the  covers  of  both  kinds  of  craft  would  have  weiehed 
about  the  same,  and  what  would  have  been  saved  in  the 
weight  of  the  frames  was  not  much,  if  one  remembers 
that  a  whole  kayak-frame  only  weighs  about  16  pounds. 
Then,  too,  if  kayaks  were  used,  some  weight  would  be 
saved  by  being  able  to  carry  our  provisions  and  other 
impedimenta  in  bags  of  thin  material,  which  could  be 
stowed  away  in  the  kayaks,  and  the  latter  lashed  to  the 
sledges.  Our  provisions  would  thus  be  protected  against 
all  risk  of  attack  by  dogs,  or  of  being  cut  by  sharp  pieces 
of  ice.  The  other  alternative — the  canvas  cover — which 
would  have  required  fitting  on  and  folding  up  again  after 
being  in  the  water,  would,  necessarily,  in  the  low  tem- 
peratures we  had  to  expect,  have  become  spoiled  and 
leaky.  Last,  but  not  least,  the  kayak,  with  its  tightly 
covered  deck,  is  a  most  efficient  sea-boat,  in  which  one 
can  get  along  in  any  kind  of  weather,  and  is  also  an 
admirable  craft  for  shooting  and  fishing  purposes.  The 
boat  which  one  could  have  contrived  by  the  other  expe- 
dient could  with  difficulty  have  been  made  any  way 
satisfactory  in  this  respect. 

I  have  also  mentioned  the  sledges  which  I  had  made 
for  this  expedition.  They  were  of  the  same  pattern  as 
those  built  for  the  Greenland  one;  somewhat  resembling 
in  shape  the  Norwegian  "skikjelke,"*  which  is  a  low 
hand-sledge   on  broad   runners,  similar  to   our   ordinary 

*  They  were  12  feet  long,  i   foot  9^  inches  broad,  and  rode  about  5 
inches  above  the  snow. 
II.— 8 


114  FARTHEST  NORTH 

"ski."  But  instead  of  the  broad,  flat  runners  we  used  in 
Greenland,  I  had  the  runners  made  in  this  case  about 
the  same  in  width  (31  inches),  but  somewhat  convex 
underneath,  Hke  those  to  be  found  on  the  "  skikjelke " 
of  Osterdalen  and  elsewhere.  These  convex  runners 
proved  to  move  very  easily  on  the  kind  of  country 
which  we  had  to  travel  over,  and  they  enabled  the  long 
sledges  to  be  turned  with  ease,  which  was  particularly 
convenient  in  the  drift-ice,  where  the  many  irregularities 
often  necessitated  a  very  zigzag  route.  The  runners 
were  covered  with  a  thin  plate  of  German  silver,  which, 
as  it  always  keeps  bright  and  smooth  and  does  not  rust, 
answered  its  purpose  well.  As  I  mentioned  before,  there 
were  thin,  loose,  well-tarred  guard-runners  of  a  kind  of 
maple  {Acer  plato7iides)  underneath  the  German-silver 
ones.  The  sledges  were  also  prepared  in  various  other 
ways,  which  have  been  treated  of  before,  for  the  heavy 
loads  they  were  to  carry  at  the  beginning.  The  result 
of  this  was  that  they  were  somewhat  heavier  than  I  had 
intended  at  first;  but  in  return  I  had  the  satisfaction  of 
their  being  fit  for  use  during  the  whole  journey,  and 
not  once  were  we  stopped  or  delayed  by  their  break- 
ing down.  This  has  hardly  been  the  case  with  former 
sledge  journeys. 

I  have  referred  several  times  to  our  clothes,  and  our 
trial-trips  in  them.  Although  we  had  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  our  wolfskin  garments  were  too  warm  for 
travelling  in,  we  took  them  with  us  all  the  same  on  our 


JF£   MAKE   A    START  115 

first  trip,  and  wore  them  too,  to  a  certain  extent;  but  we 
soon   discovered   that  they   were   always   too    warm,  and 
caused  undue  perspiration.     By  absorbing  all  the  moist- 
ure of  the  body  they  became  so  heavy  that  they  made  an 
appreciable  difference  in  the  weight  of  our  loads,  and  on 
our  return  from  our  three  days'  absence  from  the  vessel 
were  so  wet  that  they  had  to  be  hung  for  a  long  time 
over  the  saloon  stove  to  dry.     To   this  was   added  the 
experience  that  when  we  took  them  off  in  the  cold,  after 
having  worn  them  for  a  time,  they  froze  so  stiff  that  it 
was  difficult   to  get  them   on  again.     The   result   of  all 
this  was  that  I  was  not  very  favorably  disposed  towards 
them,  and  eventually  made   up  my  mind  to  keep  to  my 
woollen  clothes,  which   I  thought  would  give  free  outlet 
to    the    perspiration.      Johansen    followed    my    example. 
Our  clothes  then  came  to  consist  of  about  the  following: 
On    the    upper    part    of    the    body    two    woollen    shirts 
(Jaeger's);   outside  these   I   had  a  camel's-hair  coat,  and 
last  of  all  a  thick,  rough  jersey.     Instead  of  the  jersey, 
Johansen  wore  what  is  called  on  board  ship  an  "  anorak," 
of    thick    homespun,    provided    with    a    hood,   which    he 
could  pull  forward  in  front  of  his  face,  and  made  after  an 
Eskimo   pattern.     On   our  legs   we   had,  next   our  skin, 
woollen    drawers,    and    over    these    knickerbockers    and 
loose  gaiters  of  close  Norwegian  homespun.     To  protect 
us  from  wind  and  fine-driven  snow,  which,  being  of  the 
nature  of  dust,  forces  itself  into  every  pore  of  a  woollen 
fabric,  we  wore  a  suit  which  has  been  mentioned  before, 


Ii6  FARTHEST  NORTH 

made  of  a  thin,  close  kind  of  cotton  canvas,  and  consist- 
ing of  an  upper  garment  to  pull  over  the  head,  provided 
with  a  hood  in  Eskimo  fashion,  and  a  lower  one  in  the 
shape  of  a  pair  of  wide  overalls. 

An  important  item  in  an  outfit  is  \\\^  foot-gear.  In- 
stead of  wearing  long  stockings,  I  preferred  to  use  loose 
stocking  -  legs  and  socks,  as  these  are  easy  to  dry  on 
one's  chest  when  asleep  at  night.  On  a  journey  of 
this  kind,  where  one  is  continually  travelling  over  snow 
and  in  a  low  temperature,  whether  it  be  on  "  ski " 
or  not,  my  experience  is  that  Finn  shoes  are,  without 
doubt,  the  most  satisfactory  covering  for  the  feet  in 
every  way,  but  they  must  be  made  of  the  skin  of  the 
hind -legs  of  the  reindeer  buck.  They  are  warm  and 
strong,  they  are  always  flexible,  and  are  easy  to  put  on 
and  take  off.  They  require  careful  management,  however, 
if  they  are  not  to  be  spoiled  at  the  outset,  and  one  must 
try  as  well  as  one  can  to  dry  them  when  asleep  at  night. 
If  it  be  sunny  and  good  drying  weather  outside,  the  best 
plan  is  to  hang  them  on  a  couple  of  "  ski "  staffs,  or 
something  of  the  kind,  in  the  wind  outside  the  tent, 
preferably  turned  inside  out,  so  that  the  skin  itself  can 
dry  quickly.  If  one  does  not  take  this  precaution  the 
hair  will  soon  begin  to  fall  out.  In  severe  cold,  such 
as  we  had  on  the  first  part  of  our  journey,  it  was  impos- 
sible to  dry  them  in  this  way,  and  our  only  resource 
was  then  to  dry  them  on  the  feet  at  night,  after  having 
carefully  brushed  and  scraped  them  free  from  snow  and 


W£:   MAKE    A    START  1 17 

moisture.  Then  the  next  process  is  to  turn  them  inside 
out,  fill  them  with  "  sennegraes,"  or  sedge,  if  one  have 
it,  thrust  one's  feet  in,  and  creep  into  the  sleeping-bag 
with  them  on.*  For  milder  weather  later  on  we  had 
provided  ourselves  with  leather  boots  of  the  "  komager  " 
type,  such  as  the  Lapps  use  in  summer.  In  this  case 
they  were  made  of  under-tanned  ox-hide,  with  soles  of 
the  skin  of  the  blue  seal  {Phoca  barbara) ;  well  rubbed  in 
with  a  composition  of  tar  and  tallow,  they  make  a  wonder- 
fully strong  and  water-tight  boot,  especially  for  use  in  wet 
weather.  Inside  the  "finsko"  we  used,  at  the  beginning 
of  our  journey,  this  "  sennegraes "  {Caj'ex  crsicaria)^  of 
which  we  had  taken  a  supply.  This  is  most  effective  in 
keeping  the  feet  dry  and  warm,  and  if  used  Lapp-wise, 
i.e.,  with  bare  feet,  it  draws  all  moisture  to  itself.  At 
night  the  wet  "  sennegraes  "  must  be  removed  from  the 
boots,  well  pulled  out  with  the  fingers,  so  that  it  does 
not  cling  together,  and  then  dried  during  the  night  by 
being  worn  inside  the  coat  or  trousers-leg.  In  the  morn- 
ing it  will  be  about  dry,  and  can  be  pressed  into  the 
boots  again.  Little  by  little,  however,  it  becomes  used 
up,  and  if  it  is  to  last  out  a  long  journey  a  good  supply 
must  be  taken. 

We  also  had  with  us  socks  made  of  sheep's  wool  and 
human  hair,  which  were  both  warm  and  durable.  Then, 
too,  we   took  squares  of  "  vadmel,"  or  Norwegian  home- 

*  Compare  my  description  of  "  finsko,"    in  The  First  Crossing  of  Green- 
land, pp.  47  and  48. 


Ii8  FARTHEST  NORTH 

spun,  such  as  are  used  in  our  army,  which  we  wore  inside 
our  "  komager  "  (particularly  myself)  on  the  latter  part  of 
the  journey,  when  the  snow  was  wet.  They  are  comfort- 
able to  wear  and  easy  to  dry,  as  one  can  spread  them  out 
under  one's  coat  or  trousers  at  night. 

On  our  hands  we  wore  large  gloves  of  wolfskin,  in 
addition  to  ordinary  woollen  mittens  underneath,  neither 
of  them  having  separate  divisions  for  the  fingers.  Ex- 
actly the  same  drying  process  had  to  be  gone  through 
with  the  gloves  as  with  the  foot-gear.  Altogether  the 
warmth  of  one's  unfortunate  body,  which  is  the  only 
source  of  heat  one  has  for  this  sort  of  work,  is  chiefly  ex- 
pended in  the  effort  to  dry  one's  various  garments ;  and 
we  spent  our  nights  in  wet  compresses,  in  order  that  the 
morrow  might  pass  in  a  little  more  comfort. 

On  our  heads  we  wore  felt  hats,  which  shaded  the  eyes 
from  the  dazzling  light,  and  were  less  pervious  to  the 
wind  than  an  ordinary  woollen  cap.  Outside  the  hat  we 
generally  had  one  or  two  hoods  of  cloth.  By  this  means 
we  could  regulate  the  warmth  of  our  heads  to  a  certain 
extent,  and  this  is  no  unimportant  thing. 

It  had  been  my  original  intention  to  use  light  one-man 
sleeping-bags^  made  of  the  skin  of  the  reindeer  calf.  As 
these,  however,  proved  to  be  insufHciently  warm,  I  had  to 
resort  to  the  same  principle  we  went  on  in  Greenland, 
i.e.,  a  double  bag  of  adult  reindeer-skin ;  a  considerable 
increase  of  warmth  is  thus  attained  by  the  fact  that  the 
occupants  warm  each  other.     Furthermore,  a  bag  for  two 


IFE    MAKE   A    START  119 

men  is  not  a  little  lighter  than  two  single  bags.  An 
objection  has  been  raised  to  joint  bags  on  the  score  that 
one's  night's  rest  is  apt  to  be  disturbed,  but  this  I  have 
not  found  to  be  the  case. 

Something  which,  in  my  opinion,  ought  not  to  be 
omitted  from  a  sledge  journey  is  a  tent.  Even  if  thin 
and  frail,  it  affords  the  members  of  an  expedition  so 
much  protection  and  comfort  that  the  inconsiderable 
increase  in  weight  to  the  equipment  is  more  than 
compensated  for.  The  tents  that  I  had  had  made  for 
the  expedition  were  of  strong  undressed  silk  and  very 
light.  They  were  square  at  the  base  and  pointed  at 
the  top,  and  were  pitched  by  means  only  of  a  tent-pole 
in  the  middle,  on  the  same  principle  as  the  four-man 
tents  used  in  our  army.  Most  of  them  had  canvas 
floors  attached.  On  our  first  start  we  took  with  us 
a  tent  of  this  kind,  intended  to  hold  four  men  and 
weighing  a  little  over  7  pounds.  The  floor  is  a  certain 
advantage,  as  it  makes  the  whole  tent  compact  and  is 
quick  to  put  up,  besides  being  more  impervious  to  wind. 
The  whole  tent  is  sewed  in  one  piece,  walls  and  floor 
together,  and  the  only  opening  a  little  split  through 
which  to  crawl.  One  drawback,  however,  to  it  is,  that 
it  is  almost  impossible  not  to  carry  in  with  one  a  certain 
amount  of  snow  on  the  feet.  This  melts  during  the 
night  from  the  heat  of  one's  body  lying  on  it,  and  the 
floor  absorbs  the  moisture,  thereby  causing  the  tent  to  be 
always  a  good  deal  heavier  than  the  figures  given  here. 


I20  FARTHEST  NORTH 

I  accordingly  relinquished  all  idea  of  a  tent  of  this 
kind,  and  took  with  me  one  of  about  the  same  dimen- 
sions, but  without  a  floor,  and  of  the  same  silk  material 
as  the  other.  It  took  a  little  longer  to  put  up,  but  the 
difference  was  not  great.  The  walls  were  kept  down  by 
pegs,  and  when  all  was  finished  we  would  bank  it  care- 
fully round  with  snow  to  exclude  wind  and  draughts. 
Then  came  the  actual  pitching  of  the  tent,  which  was 
accomplished  by  crawling  in  through  the  entrance  and 
poking  it  up  with  a  "  ski  "  staff,  which  also  served  as  tent- 
pole.  It  weighed  a  fraction  over  3  pounds,  including  16 
pegs,  lasted  the  whole  journey  through — that  is  to  say, 
until  the  autumn — and  was  always  a  cherished  place  of 
refuge. 

The  cooking  apparatus  we  took  with  us  had  the 
advantage  of  utilizing  to  the  utmost  the  fuel  consumed. 
With  it  we  were  able,  in  a  very  short  space  of  time,  to 
cook  food  and  simultaneously  melt  an  abundance  of  drink- 
ing-water, so  that  both  in  the  morning  and  in  the  evening 
we  were  able  to  drink  as  much  as  we  wished,  and  even  a 
surplus  remained.  The  apparatus  consisted  of  two  boilers 
and  a  vessel  for  melting  snow  or  ice  in,  and  was  con- 
structed in  the  following  manner:  Inside  a  ring-shaped 
vessel  was  placed  the  boiler,  while  underneath  this  again 
was  the  lamp.  The  entire  combustion  output  was  thus 
forced  to  mount  into  the  space  between  the  boiler  and  the 
ring-shaped  vessel.  Over  this  was  a  tight-fitting  lid  with 
a  hole  in   the    middle,  through   which   the    hot    air  was 


WE   MAKE   A    START  I2I 

obliged  to  pass  before  it  could  penetrate  farther  and  reach 
the  bottom  of  a  flat  snow-melter,  which  was  placed  above 
it.  Then,  after  having  delivered  some  part  of  its  heat, 
the  air  was  forced  down  as^ain  on  the  outside  of  the  rino- 
shaped  vessel  by  the  help  of  a  mantle,  or  cap,  which  sur- 
rounded the  whole.  Here  it  parted  with  its  last  remain- 
ing warmth  to  the  outer  side  of  the  ring-vessel,  and  finally 
escaped,  almost  entirely  cooled,  from  the  lower  edge  of 
the  mantle. 

For  the  heating  was  used  a  Swedish  gas-petroleum 
lamp,  known  as  the  "Primus,"  in  which  the  heat  turns  the 
petroleum  into  gas  before  it  is  consumed.  By  this  means 
it  renders  the  combustion  unusually  complete.  Numerous 
experiments  made  by  Professor  Torup  at  his  laboratory 
proved  that  the  cooker  in  ordinary  circumstances  yielded 
90  to  93  per  cent,  of  the  heat  which  the  petroleum  con- 
sumed should,  by  combustion,  theoretically  evolve.  A 
more  satisfactory  result,  I  think,  it  would  be  difficult  to 
obtain.  The  vessels  in  this  cooker  were  made  of  German 
silver,  while  the  lid,  outside  cap,  etc.,  were  of  aluminium. 
Together  with  two  tin  mugs,  two  tin  spoons,  and  a  tin 
ladle,  it  weighed  exactly  8  pounds  13  ounces,  while  the 
lamp,  the  "  Primus,"  weighed  \\  ounces. 

As  fuel,  my  choice  this  time  fell  on  petroleum  ("  snow- 
flake  ").  Alcohol,  which  has  generally  been  used  before 
on  Arctic  expeditions,  has  several  advantages,  and,  in 
particular,  is  easy  to  burn.  One  decided  drawback  to  it, 
however,  is  the  fact  that  it  does  not  by  any  means  gen- 


122 


FARTHEST  NORTH 


THE    COOKING    APPARATUS 


erate  so  much  heat  in  comparison  with  its  weight  as 
petroleum  when  the  latter  is  entirely  consumed,  as  was 
the  case  with  the  lamp  used  by  us.  As  I  was  afraid  that 
petroleum  might  freeze,  I  had  a  notion  of  employing  gas- 
oil,  but  gave  up  the  idea,  as  it  escapes  so  easily  that  it 
is  difficult  to  preserve,  and  is,  moreover,  very  explosive. 
We  had  no  difficulties  with  our  "  snowflake  "  petroleum 
on  account  of  the  cold.     We  took  with  us  rather  more 


IF£   MAKE   A    START  123 

than  4  gallons,  and  this  quantity  lasted  us  1 20  days,  en- 
abling us  to  cook  two  hot  meals  a  day  and  melt  an 
abundance  of  water. 

Of  snow-shoes  we  took  several  pairs,  as  we  had  to  be 
prepared  for  breakages  in  the  uneven  drift-ice ;  besides 
this,  they  would  probably  get  considerably  worn  in  the 
summer-time  when  the  snow  became  wet  and  granular. 
Those  we  took  with  us  were  particularly  tough,  and  slid 
readily.  They  were,  for  the  most  part,  of  the  same  kind 
of  maple  as  the  sledges,  and  of  birch  and  hickory.  They 
had  all  been  well  rubbed  in  with  a  concoction  of  tar, 
stearine,  and  tallow. 

As  we  calculated  to  subsist,  in  a  measure,  on  what  we 
could  shoot  ourselves,  it  was  necessary  for  us  to  have 
firearms.  The  most  important  gun  for  this  kind  of 
work  is,  naturally,  the  rifle  ;  but  as,  in  all  likelihood,  we 
should  have  to  go  across  large  expanses  of  snow,  where 
probably  there  would  be  little  big  game,  and  whereas,  on 
the  other  hand,  birds  might  very  likely  come  flying  over 
our  heads,  I  thought  shot-guns  would  be  the  most  ser- 
viceable to  us.  Therefore  we  decided  on  the  same 
equipment  in  this  respect  as  we  had  in  Greenland.  We 
took  with  us  two  double  -  barrelled  guns  (biichsflints) ; 
each  of  them  having  a  shot-barrel  of  20-bore  and  a  barrel 
for  ball  (Express)  of  about  .360  calibre.  Our  supply  of 
ammunition  consisted  of  about  180  rifle  cartridges  and 
150  shot  cartridges. 

Our  instruvients  for  determining  our  position  and  for 


124  FARTHEST  NORTH 

working  sights  were :  a  small,  light  theodolite,  specially 
constructed  for  the  purpose,  which,  with  its  case  (this  I 
had  also  had  made  to  act  as  a  stand)  only  weighed  a 
little  over  two  pounds.  We  had,  furthermore,  a  pocket 
sextant  and  an  artificial  glass  horizon,  a  light  azimuth 
compass  of  aluminium,  and  a  couple  of  other  compasses. 
For  the  meteorological  observations  we  had  a  couple  of 
aneroid  barometers,  two  minimum  spirit- thermometers 
and  three  quicksilver  sling- thermometers.  In  addition 
to  these,  we  had  a  good  aluminium  telescope,  and  also  a 
photographic  camera. 

The  most  difficult,  but  also,  perhaps,  the  most  im- 
portant, point  in  the  equipment  of  a  sledge  expedition 
is  thoroughly  good  and  adequate  victiLalling.  I  have 
already  mentioned,  in  the  Introduction  to  this  book,  that 
the  first  and  foremost  object  is  to  protect  ones  self 
against  scurvy  and  other  maladies  by  the  choice  of  foods, 
which,  through  careful  preparation  and  sterilization,  are 
assured  against  decomposition.  On  a  sledge  expedition 
of  this  kind,  where  so  much  attention  must  be  paid  to 
the  weight  of  the  equipment,  it  is  hardly  possible  to  take 
any  kinds  of  provisions,  except  those  of  which  the  weight 
has  been  reduced  as  much  as  possible  by  careful  and 
complete  drying.  As,  however,  meat  and  fish  are  not  so 
easily  digested  when  dried,  it  is  no  unimportant  thing  to 
have  them  in  a  pulverized  form.  The  dried  food  is,  in 
this  manner,  so  finely  distributed  that  it  can  with  equal 
facility    be    digested    and    received    into    the    organism. 


JF£   MAKE  A    START  125 

This  preparation  of  meat  and  fish  was,  therefore,  the 
only  kind  we  took  with  us.  The  meat  was  muscular 
beef,  taken  from  the  ox,  and  freed  from  all  fat,  gristle, 
etc. ;  it  was  then  dried  as  quickly  as  possible,  in  a  com- 
pletely fresh  condition,  and  thereupon  ground  and  mixed 
with  the  same  proportion  of  beef  suet  as  is  used  in  the 
ordinary  preparation  of  pemmican.  This  form  of  food, 
which  has  been  used  for  a  considerable  time  on  sledsje 
expeditions,  has  gained  for  itself  much  esteem,  and 
rightly ;  if  well  prepared,  as  ours  was,  it  is  undeniably  a 
nourishing  and  easily  digested  food.""  One  ought  not, 
however,  to  trust  to  its  always  being  harmless,  as,  if  care- 
lessly prepared — i.e.,  slowly  or  imperfectly  dried — it  may 
also  be  very  injurious  to  the  health. 

Another  item  of  our  provisions,  by  which  we  set  great 
store,  was  Vage's  fish  flour.  It  is  well  prepared  and  has 
admirable  keeping  qualities  ;  if  boiled  in  water  and  mixed 
with  flour  and  butter  or  dried  potatoes,  it  furnishes  a 
very  appetizing  dish.  Another  point  which  should  be 
attended  to  is  that  the  food  be  of  such  a  kind  that  it  can 
be  eaten  without  cooking.  Fuel  is  part  of  an  equipment, 
no  doubt ;  but  if  for  some  reason  or  other  this  be  lost  or 


*  I  had  also  had  prepared  a  large  quantity  of  pemmican,  consisting  of 
equal  parts  of  meat-powder  and  vegetable  fat  (from  the  cocoanut).  This 
pemmican,  however,  proved  to  be  rather  an  unfortunate  invention  ;  even 
the  dogs  would  not  eat  it  after  they  had  tasted  it  once  or  twice.  Perhaps 
this  is  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  vegetable  fat  is  heavily  digested,  and 
contains  acids  which  irritate  the  mucous  membranes  of  the  stomach  and 
throat. 


126  FARTHEST  NORTH 

used  up,  one  would  be  in  a  bad  case  indeed,  had  one  not 
provided  against  such  a  contingency  by  taking  food 
which  could  be  eaten  in  spite  of  that.  In  order  to  save 
fuel,  too,  it  is  important  that  the  food  should  not  require 
cooking,  but  merely  warming.  The  flour  that  we  took 
with  us  had  therefore  been  steamed,  and  could,  if  neces- 
sary, have  been  eaten  as  it  was,  without  further  prepara- 
tion. Merely  brought  to  a  boil,  it  made  a  good  hot 
dish.  We  also  took  dried  boiled  potatoes,  pea-soup, 
chocolate,  vril-food,  etc.  Our  bread  was  partly  careful- 
ly dried  wheaten  biscuits,  and  partly  aleuronate  bread, 
which  I  had  caused  to  be  made  of  wheat  flour  mixed 
with  about  30  per  cent,  of  aleuronate  flour  (vegetable 
albumen). 

We  also  took  with  us  a  considerable  quantity  of 
butter  (86  pounds)  which  had  been  well  worked  on 
board  in  order  to  get  out  all  superfluous  water.  By 
this  means  not  only  was  considerable  weight  saved,  but 
the  butter  did  not  become  so  hard  in  the  cold.  On  the 
whole,  it  must  be  said  that  our  menus  included  con- 
siderable variety,  and  we  were  never  subjected  to  that 
sameness  of  food  which  former  sledge  expeditions  have 
complained  so  much  of.  Finally,  we  always  had  raven- 
ous appetites,  and  always  thought  our  meals  as  delicious 
as  they  could  be. 

Our  medicine -chest  consisted,  on  this  occasion,  of  a 
little  bag,  containing,  naturally,  only  the  most  absolutely 
necessary  drugs,  etc.      Some  splints  and  some  ligatures, 


WE    MAKE    A    START 


127 


and  plaster-of- Paris  bandages,  for  possible  broken  leq;s 
and  arms;  aperient  pills  and  laudanum  for  derangements 
of  the  stomach,  which  were  never  required ;  chloroform 
in  case  of  an  amputation,  for  example,  from  frost-bite  ;  a 
couple  of  small  glasses  of  cocaine  in  solution  for  snow- 
blindness  (also  unused);  drops  for  toothache,  carbolic 
acid,  iodoform  gauze,  a  couple  of  curved  needles,  and 
some  silk  for  sewing  up  wounds ;  a  scalpel,  two  artery 
tweezers  (also  for  amputations),  and  a  few  other  sundries. 
Happily  our  medicines  were  hardly  ever  required,  except 
that  the  ligatures  and  bandages  came  in  very  handily 
the  following  winter  as  wicks  for  our  train  -  oil  lamps. 
Still  better  for  this  purpose,  however,  is  Nicolaysen's  plas- 
ter, of  which  we  had  taken  a  supply  for  possible  broken 
collar-bones.  The  layer  of  wax  we  scraped  carefully  off 
and  found  it  most  satisfactory  for  calking  our  leaky  kayaks. 

LIST   OF   THE    EQUIPMENT 


Sledge  No.  i  (with  Nansen's 

Kayak) 

Lbs. 

Oz. 

Kilos 

Kayak 

41 

2 

18.7 

Pump    (for    pumping    kayaks    in    case    of 

leakage) ....... 

I 

2 

0.5 

Sail 

I 

9 

0.7 

Axe  and  geological  hammer 

I 

5 

0.6 

Gun  and  case       ...          ... 

7 

4 

3-3 

Two  small  wooden  rods  belonging  to  cooker 

0 

14 

0.4 

Theodolite  and  case     ..... 

4 

13 

2  2 

Three  reserve  cross-pieces  for  sledges   . 

2 

0 

0.9 

Some  pieces  of  wood  ..... 

0 

II 

0-3 

Harpoon  line       ...... 

0 

8.4 

0.24 

Fur  gaiters          ... 

I 

0-55 

Five  balls  of  cord         ..... 

2 

9 

1. 17 

128 


FARTHEST  NORTH 


Sledge   No.  i — contimied 


Lbs.    Oz. 


Cooker,  with  two  mugs,  ladle,  and  two  spoons 
Petroleum  lamp  (Primus)     . 
Pocket-flask        .... 

Bag,  with  sundry  articles  of  clothing 
Blanket      ..... 

Jersey         ..... 

Finn  shoes  filled  with  grass. 
Cap  for  fitting  over  opening  in  kayak 
One  pair  "  komager  " 
Two    pair    kayak    gloves   and  one   harpoon 
and  line  ...... 

One  waterproof  sealskin  kayak  overcoat 
Tool-bag    ...... 

Bag  of  sewing  materials,  including  sailmak- 
er's  palm,  sail  needles,  and  other  sundries 
Three  Norwegian  flags  .... 

Medicines,  etc.         .... 

Photographic  camera 

One  cassette  and  one  tin  box  of  films 

One  wooden  cup     .... 

One  rope  (for  lashing  kayak  to  sledge 
Pieces   of    reindeer-skin  to  prevent    kayaks 

from  chafing 
Wooden  shovel 
Ski-staff  with  disk  at  bottom 
One  bamboo  staff    . 
Two  oak  staffs 
Seven  reserve  dog  harnesses  and  two  reserve 

hauling  ropes 
One  coil  of  rope 
Four  bamboo  poles  for  masts  and  for  steer 

ing  sledges   . 
One  bag  of  bread     . 

"     whey-powder 

"     sugar     . 

"     albuminous  flour 

"     lime-juice  tablets 

"     Frame-food  stamina  tablets 
As  boat's  grips,  under  the  sledges,  were 
Three  sacks  of  pemmican  (together) 
One    sack    '*  leverpostei,"    or    pate    made   o 
calf's  liver     ...... 


13 
4i 
6 

13 
6 
8 
I 

7 
I 

5 

I 

10 

10 

4 
15 
10 

14 
3 
o 

15 
3 
9 


2 

10 

0 

6 

8 

'3 

5 

15 

3 

5 

2 

3 

I 

12 

I 

10 

2 

7 

38 

I 

93 

15 

Kilos. 
4.0 
o.i 
0.17 
4.0 
2.0 
1. 15 

1-4 
0.2 
0.95 

0.6 
1.4 
1.2 

1.2 
o.  I 
2.2  !j 
2.1 

1-75 
0.08 
0.9 

1.8 

i.o 

0.7 

0.45 

1.2 

1.2 
0.18 

4.0 

2.7 

1-5 
1.0 
0.8 

0.73 
I.I 

108.2 

42.7 


WE 

MAKE   A    START 

I 

Sledge  No.  2.     On  this  were  carried 

in  stror 

g  sacks : 

Lbs. 

Oz. 

Kilos 

Albuminous  flour     ...... 

14 

•5 

6.8 

Wheat  flour 

15 

6 

7.0 

Whey-powder 

16 

15 

1-1 

Corn  flour 

8 

13 

4.0 

Sugar 

7 

I 

3-2 

Vril-food  . 

31 

4 

14.2 

Australian  pemmican 

13 

0 

59 

Chocolate 

12 

12 

5.8 

Oatmeal  .... 

II 

0 

5.0 

Dried  red  whortleberries          .        .         .          . 

0 

14 

0.4 

Two  sacks  of  white  bread  (together) 

69 

5 

31-5 

One  sack  of  aleuronate  bread 

46 

10 

21.2 

"  Special  food  "(  a  mixture  of  pea  flour,  meat 

powder,  fat,  etc.) 

63 

13 

29.0 

Butter 

85 

13 

39-0 

Fish  flour  (Vage's) 

34 

0 

15-5 

Dried  potatoes 

15 

3 

6.9 

One  reindeer-skin  sleeping-bag 

19 

13 

9.0 

Two  steel-wire  ropes,  with  couples  for  twenty- 

eight  dogs 

II 

0 

5.0 

One  pair  hickory  snow-shoes 

II 

0 

5.0 

Weight  of  sledge     . 

43 

5 

19.7 

129 


Sledge  No.  3  (with  Johansen's  Kayak) 

Kayak . 

Two  pieces  of  reindeer-skin,  to  prevent 
chafing 

A  supply  of  dog-shoes     ..... 

One  Eskimo  shooting  -  sledge  with  sail  (in- 
tended for  possible  seal-shooting  on  the  ice) 

Two  sledge  sails  ..... 

Pump         ....... 

Oar-blades  (made  of  canvas  stretched  on 
frames,  and  intended  to  be  lashed  to  the 
ski-staffs)  .... 

Gun  ...... 

Flask  

Net  (for  catching  Crustacea  in  the  sea) 

One  pair  "  komager  "  . 
II. -9 


bs. 

Oz. 

Kilos 

M 

6 

18.8 

I 

12 

0.8 

I 

0 

0.55 

I 

10 

0.73 

0 

10 

1.2 

0 

14 

0.4 

I 

2 

0.5 

7 

2.7 

3.26 

0 

5-9 

0.17 

0 

5-2 

0.15 

I 

15-7 

0.9 

I30 


FARTHEST  NORTH 


Sledge  No.  3 — conttJitced 


Waterproof  kayak  overcoat  of  sealskin 
Fur  gaiters  .... 

Two  reserve  pieces  of  wood 
Two  tins  of  petroleum  (about  5  gallons 
Several  reserve  snow-shoe  fastenings 
Lantern  for  changing  plates,  etc. 
Artificial  glass  horizon 
Bag  with  cords  and  nautical  almanac 
Pocket  sextant    .... 
Two  packets  of  matches 
One  reserve  sheet  of  German  silver  (for  re- 
paving  plates  under  sledge-runners) 

Pitch 

Two  minimum  thermometers  in  cases  . 
Three  quicksilver  thermometers  in  cases 
One  compass       ..... 

One  aluminium  compass 
telescope 
"  Sennegraes  "  or  sedge  for  Finn  shoes 
Bag  with  cartridges     .... 

Leather  pouch  with  reserve  shooting  requi- 
sites,   parts  for  gun-locks,    reserve  cocks 
balls,  powder,  etc.    .... 

Leather  pouch  with  glass  bottle,  one  spoon 
and  five  pencils        .... 

Bag  with  navigation  tables,  nautical  almanac 
cards,  etc.        ..... 

Tin    box   with    diaries,  letters,  photographs 

observation-journals,  etc. 
One  cap  for  covering  hole  in  deck  of  kayak 
One  sack  of  meat-chocolate 
One  bag  of  soups 
"     cocoa 
"        "     fish  fiour     . 
"        "     wheat  flour 
"        "     chocolate   . 
"     oatmeal 
"     vril-food     . 
As  grips  under  the  sledge  were : 
One  sack  of  oatmeal     . 
pemmican  . 
"         "      liver  pate   . 


Lbs. 

2 

o 
o 
40 
o 
I 

o 
o 
o 
o 

o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 
II 
o 

26 


Oz. 

3 

7-3 
9.8 
0.6 

15. 1 
1.2 

10.2 
4.6 

13-7 

137 

74 
3-5 
7-4 
4-9 
8.8 
8.4 
8.6 

7 
I 


10.6 


Kilos, 
i.o 
0.21 
0.28 

18.2 

0.43 
0.49 
0.29 
0.13 
0-39 
0-39 

0.21 
0.1 
0.21 
0.14 
0.25 
0.24 
0.7 
0.2 
11.85 


1-4 


0-3 


3 

10 

1.65 

0 

8 

0.23 

17 

10 

8.0 

6 

10 

3-0 

7 

6 

3-35 

3 

12 

1.70 

2 

0 

0.90 

4 

6 

2.0 

4 

6 

2.0 

4 

6 

2.0 

29 

I 

13.2 

"5 

I 

52.3 

[I  I 

12 

50.8 

WE   MAKE   A    START 


131 


A  list  of  our  dogs  and  their  weights  on  starting  may 
be  of  interest : 

Lbs.  Kilos. 


Kvik  . 

78 

35-7 

Freia  . 

50 

22.7 

Barbara 

49i 

22.5 

Suggen 

6ii 

28.0 

Flint 

59i 

27.0 

Barrabas 

6ii 

28.0 

Gulen 

6o| 

27.5 

Haren 

6a 

28.0 

Barnet 

39 

17.7 

Sultan 

68 

31.0 

Klapperslangen 

59i 

27.0 

Blok    . 

59 

26.8 

Bjelki . 

38 

17-3 

Sjoliget 

40 

18.0 

Katta  . 

45i 

20.7 

Narrifas 

46 

21.0 

Livjaegeren . 

38i 

17.5 

Potifar 

57 

26.0 

Storrseven  . 

70 

31.8 

Isbjcin 

6i| 

28.0 

Lilleraeven  . 

59 

26.7 

Kvindfolket 

37 

26.0 

Perpetuum . 

63 

28.6 

Baro  . 

6oi 

27.5 

Russen 

58 

26.5 

Kaifas 

69 

31-5 

Ulenka 

57 

26.0 

Pan    . 

65 

29.5 

s 


CHAPTER   IV 
WE    SAY    GOOD-BYE    TO    THE   "  FRAM  " 

At  last  by  midday  on  March  14th  we  finally  left  the 
Fram  to  the  noise  of  a  thiindering  salute.  For  the  third 
time  farewells  and  mutual  good  wishes  were  exchanged. 
Some  of  our  comrades  came  a  little  way  with  us,  but 
Sverdrup  soon  turned  back  in  order  to  be  on  board  for 
dinner  at  i  o'clock.  It  was  on  the  top  of  a  hummock 
that  we  two  said  good-bye  to  each  other;  the  Frmji 
was  lying  behind  us,  and  I  can  remember  how  I  stood 
watching  him  as  he  strode  easily  homeward  on  his 
snow-shoes.  I  half  wished  I  could  turn  back  with  him 
and  find  myself  again  in  the  warm  saloon ;  I  knew  only 
too  well  that  a  life  of  toil  lay  before  us,  and  that  it  would 
be  many  a  long  day  before  we  should  again  sleep  and  eat 
under  a  comfortable  roof;  but  that  that  time  was  going 
to  be  so  long  as  it  really  proved  to  be,  none  of  us  then 
had  any  idea.  We  all  thought  that  either  the  expedi- 
tion would  succeed,  and  that  we  should  return  home  that 
same  year,  or — that  it  would  not  succeed. 

A  little  while  after  Sverdrup  had  left  us,  Mogstad 
also  found  it  necessary  to  turn  back.     He  had  thought 


':;?M!Si7«>j^i"i"S_-- 


Si 


2I 


PV£    SAY  GOOD-BYE    TO    THE    '' FRAM'  135 

of  going  with  us  till  the  next  day,  but  his  heavy  wolf- 
skin trousers  were,  as  he  un-euphemistically  expressed  it, 
"  almost  full  of  sweat,  and  he  must  go  back  to  the  fire 
on  board  to  get  dry."  Hansen,  Henriksen,  and  Petterscn 
were  then  the  only  ones  left,  and  they  labored  along, 
each  with  his  load  on  his  back.  It  was  difficult  for 
them  to  keep  up  with  us  on  the  flat  ice,  so  quickly  did 
we  go;  but  when  we  came  to  pressure -ridges  we  were 
brought  to  a  standstill  and  the  sledges  had  to  be  helped 
over.  At  one  place  the  ridge  was  so  bad  that  we  had 
to  carry  the  sledges  a  long  way.  When,  after  consider- 
able trouble,  we  had  managed  to  get  over  it,  Peter  shook 
his  head  reflectively,  and  said  to  Johansen  that  we 
should  meet  plenty  more  of  the  same  kind,  and  have 
enough  hard  work  before  we  had  eaten  sufficient  of  the 
loads  to  make  the  sledges  run  lightly.  Just  here  we 
came  upon  a  long  stretch  of  bad  ice,  and  Peter  became 
more  and  more  concerned  for  our  future ;  but  towards 
evening  matters  improved,  and  we  advanced  more  rap- 
idly. When  we  stopped  at  6  o'clock  the  odometer  reg- 
istered a  good  7  miles,  which  was  not  so  bad  for  a 
first  day's  work.  We  had  a  cheerful  evening  in  our 
tent,  which  was  just  about  big  enough  to  hold  all  five. 
Pettersen,  who  had  exerted  himself  and  become  over- 
heated on  the  way,  shivered  and  groaned  while  the  dogs 
were  being  tied  up  and  fed,  and  the  tent  pitched.  He, 
however,  found  existence  considerably  brighter  when  he. 
sat   inside   it,  in   his  warm  wolfskin   clothes,  with  a  pot 


136  FARTHEST  NORTH 

of  smoking  chocolate  before  him,  a  big  lump  of  butter 
in  one  hand  and  a  biscuit  in  the  other,  and  exclaimed, 
"  Now  I  am  living  like  a  prince  !"  He  thereafter  dis- 
coursed at  length  on  the  exalting  thought  that  he  was 
sitting:  in  a  tent  in  the  middle  of  the  Polar  Sea.  Poor  fel- 
low,  he  had  begged  and  prayed  to  be  allowed  to  come  with 
us  on  this  expedition  ;  he  would  cook  for  us  and  make 
himself  generally  useful,  both  as  a  tinsmith  and  black- 
smith ;  and  then,  he  said,  three  would  be  company.  I  re- 
gretted that  I  could  not  take  more  than  one  companion, 
and  he  had  been  in  the  depths  of  woe  for  several  days,  but 
now  found  comfort  in  the  fact  that  he  had,  at  any  rate, 
come  part  of  the  way  with  us,  and  was  out  on  this  great  des- 
ert sea,  for,  as  he  said,  "  not  many  people  have  done  that." 
The  others  had  no  sleeping-bag  with  them,  so  they 
made  themselves  a  cozy  little  hut  of  snow,  into  which 
they  crawled  in  their  wolfskin  garments,  and  had  a 
tolerably  •  good  night.  I  was  awake  early  the  next 
morning;  but  when  I  crept  out  of  the  tent  I  found  that 
somebody  else  was  on  his  legs  before  me,  and  this  was 
Pettersen,  who,  awakened  by  the  cold,  was  now  walking 
up  and  down  to  warm  his  stiffened  limbs.  He  had  tried 
it  now,  he  said ;  he  never  should  have  thought  it  possible 
to  sleep  in  the  snow,  but  it  had  not  been  half  bad.  He 
would  not  quite  admit  that  he  had  been  cold,  and  that 
that  was  the  reason  why  he  had  turned  out  so  early. 
Then  we  had  our  last  pleasant  breakfast  together,  got 
the  sledges  ready,  harnessed  the  dogs,  shook  hands  with 


f~-   > 


JF£  SAY  G  GOD-BYE    TO    THE    '' ERAM  "  139 

our  companions,  and,  without  many  words  being  uttered 
on  either  side,  started  out  into  soHtude.  Peter  shook  his 
head  sorrowfully  as  we  went  off.  I  turned  round  when 
we  had  gone  some  little  way,  and  saw  his  figure  on  the 
top  of  the  hummock ;  he  was  still  looking  after  us.  His 
thoughts  were  probably  sad ;  perhaps  he  believed  that  he 
had  spoken  to  us  for  the  last  time. 

We  found  large  expanses  of  flat  ice,  and  covered  the 
ground  quickly,  farther  and  farther  away  from  our  com- 
rades, into  the  unknown,  where  we  two  alone  and  the 
dogs  were  to  wander  for  months.  The  Frams  rigging 
had  disappeared  long  ago  behind  the  margin  of  the  ice. 
We  often  came  on  piled-up  ridges  and  uneven  ice,  where 
the  sledges  had  to  be  helped  and  sometimes  carried  over. 
It  often  happened,  too,  that  they  capsized  altogether,  and 
it  was  only  by  dint  of  strenuous  hauling  that  we  righted 
them  again.  Somewhat  exhausted  by  all  this  hard  work, 
we  stopped  finally  at  6  o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  had 
then  gone  about  9  miles  during  the  day.  They  were  not 
quite  the  marches  I  had  reckoned  on,  but  we  hoped  that 
by  degrees  the  sledges  would  become  lighter  and  the  ice 
better  to  travel  over.  The  latter,  too,  seems  to  have  been 
the  case  at  first.  On  Sunday,  March  17th,  I  say  in  my 
diary :  "  The  ice  appears  to  be  more  even  the  farther 
north  we  get ;  came  across  a  lane,  however,  yesterday 
which  necessitated  a  long  detour.*     At  half-past  six  we 

*  It  was  not  advisable,  for  many  reasons,  to  cross  the  lanes  in  the 


I40  FARTHEST  NORTH 

had  done  about  9  miles.  As  we  had  just  reached  a  good 
camping -ground,  and  the  dogs  were  tired,  we  stopped. 
Lowest  temperature  last  night,  —45°  Fahr.  (  — 42.8°  C.)." 

The  ice  continued  to  become  more  even  during  the 
following  days,  and  our  marches  often  amounted  to  14 
miles  or  more  in  the  day.  Now  and  then  a  misfortune 
might  happen  which  detained  us,  as,  for  instance,  one 
day  a  sharp  spike  of  ice  which  was  standing  up  cut  a 
hole  in  a  sack  of  fish  flour,  and  all  the  delicious  food  ran 
out.  It  took  us  more  than  an  hour  to  collect  it  all 
again  and  repair  the  damages.  Then  the  odometer  got 
broken  through  being  jammed  in  some  uneven  ice,  and  it 
took  some  hours  to  mend  it  by  a  process  of  lashing. 
But  on  we  went  northward,  often  over  great,  wide  ice- 
plains  which  seemed  as  if  they  must  stretch  right  to  the 
Pole.  Sometimes  it  happened  that  we  passed  through 
places  where  the  ice  was  "  unusually  massive,  with  high 
hummocks,  so  that  it  looked  like  undulating  country 
covered  with  snow."  This  was  undoubtedly  very  old 
ice,  which  had  drifted  in  the  Polar  Sea  for  a  long  time  on 
its  way  from  the  Siberian  Sea  to  the  east  coast  of  Green- 
land, and  which  had  been  subjected  year  after  year  to 
severe  pressure.  High  hummocks  and  mounds  are  thus 
formed,  which  summer  after  summer  are  partially  melted 

kayaks,  now  that  the  temperature  was  so  low.  Even  if  the  water  in  them 
had  not  nearly  always  been  covered  with  a  more  or  less  thick  layer  of  ice, 
the  kayaks  would  have  become  much  heavier  from  the  immediate  freezing 
of  the  water  which  would  have  entered,  as  they  proved  to  be  not  absolute- 
ly impervious ;  and  this  ice  we  had  then  no  means  of  dislodging. 


WE    SAV  GOOD-BYE    TO    THE    '' FRAAT'  141 

by  the  rays  of  the  sun,  and  again  in  the  winters  covered 
with  great  drifts  of  snow,  so  that  they  assume  forms 
which  resemble  ice-hills  rather  than  piles  of  sea-ice  result- 
ing from  upheaval. 

Wednesday,  March  20th,  my  diary  says :  "  Beautiful 
weather  for  travelling  in,  with  fine  sunsets ;  but  somewhat 
cold,  particularly  in  the  bag,  at  nights  (it  was  —41.8°  and 
—43.6°  Fahr.,  or  —41°  and  —42°  C).  The  ice  appears  to 
be  getting  more  even  the  farther  we  advance,  and  in  some 
places  it  is  like  travelling  over  '  inland  ice.'  If  this  goes 
on  the  whole  thing  will  be  done  in  no  time."  That  day 
we  lost  our  odometer,  and  as  we  did  not  find  it  out  till 
some  time  afterwards,  and  I  did  not  know  how  far  we 
might  have  to  go  back,  I  thought  it  was  not  worth  while 
to  return  and  look  for.  It  was  the  cause,  however,  of  our 
only  being  able  subsequently  to  guess  approximately  at 
the  distance  we  had  gone  during  the  day.  We  had 
another  mishap,  too,  that  day.  This  was  that  one  of  the 
dogs  (it  was  "  Livjcegeren")  had  become  so  ill  that  he 
could  not  be  driven  any  longer,  and  we  had  to  let  him  go 
loose.  It  was  late  in  the  day  before  we  discovered  that 
he  was  not  with  us ;  he  had  stopped  behind  at  our  camp- 
ing-ground when  we  broke  up  in  the  morning,  and  I  had 
to  go  back  after  him  on  snow-shoes,  which  caused  a  long 
delay. 

"Thursday,  March  21st.  Nine  in  the  morning,  —43.6° 
Fahr.,  or  —42°  C.  (Minimum  in  the  night,  —47.2°  Fahr., 
or  —44°  C.)     Clear,  as  it  has  been  every  day.     Beautiful, 


142  FARTHEST  NORTH 

bright  weather ;  glorious  for  travelling  in,  but  somewhat 
cold  at  nights,  with  the  quicksilver  continually  frozen. 
Patching  Finn  shoes  in  this  temperature  inside  the  tent, 
with  one's  nose  slowly  freezing  away,  is  not  all  pure  en- 
joyment. 

"Friday,  March  22d.  Splendid  ice  for  getting  over; 
things  go  better  and  better.  Wide  expanses,  with  a  few 
pressure-ridges  now  and  then,  but  passable  everywhere. 
Kept  at  it  yesterday  from  about  half -past  eleven  in 
the  morning  to  half-past  eight  at  night;  did  a  good  21 
miles,  I  hope.  We  should  be  in  latitude  85°.  The 
only  disagreeable  thing  about  it  now  is  the  cold.  Our 
clothes  are  transformed  more  and  more  into  a  cuirass  of 
ice  during  the  day,  and  wet  bandages  at  night.  The 
blankets  likewise.  The  sleeping-bag  gets  heavier  and 
heavier  from  the  moisture  which  freezes  on  the  hair 
inside.  The  same  clear,  settled  weather  every  day.  We 
are  both  longing  now  for  a  change  ;  a  few  clouds  and  a 
little  more  mildness  would  be  welcome."  The  tempera- 
ture in  the  night,  -44.8°  Fahr.  (-42.7°  C).  By  an 
observation  which  I  took  later  in  the  forenoon,  our 
latitude  that  day  proved  to  be  85°  9'  N. 

"Saturday,  March  23d.  On  account  of  observation, 
lashing  the  loads  on  the  sledges,  patching  bags,  and 
other  occupations  of  a  like  kind,  which  are  no  joke  in 
this  low  temperature,  we  did  not  manage  to  get  off  yes- 
terday before  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  We  stuck  to  it 
till  nine  in  the  evening,  when  we  stopped  in  some  of  the 


IF£    SAV  GOOD-BYE    TO    THE    '' FRAM''  143 

worst  ice  we  have  seen  lately.  Our  day's  march,  how- 
ever, had  lain  across  several  large  tracts  of  level  ice,  so  I 
think  that  we  made  14  miles  or  so  all  the  same.  We 
have  the  same  brilliant  sunshine ;  but  yesterday  after- 
noon the  wind  from  the  northeast,  which  we  have  had 
for  the  last  few  days,  increased,  and  made  it  rather  raw. 

"  We  passed  over  a  large  frozen  pool  yesterday  even- 
ing; it  looked  almost  like  a  large  lake."  It  could  not 
have  been  long  since  this  was  formed,  as  the  ice  on  it 
was  still  quite  thin.  It  is  w^onderful  that  these  pools  can 
form  up  there  at  that  time  of  the  year. 

From  this  time  forward  there  was  an  end  of  the  flat 
ice,  which  it  had  been  simple  enjoyment  to  travel  over; 
and  now  we  had  often  great  difficulties  to  cope  with. 
On  Sunday,  March  24th,  I  write :  "  Ice  not  so  good ; 
yesterday  was  a  hard  day,  but  we  made  a  few  miles — not 
more,  though,  than  seven,  I  am  afraid.  This  continual 
lifting  of  the  heavily  loaded  sledges  is  calculated  to  break 
one's  back ;  but  better  times  are  coming,  perhaps.  The 
cold  is  also  appreciable,  always  the  same ;  but  yesterday 
it  was  increased  by  the  admixture  of  considerable  wind 
from  the  northeast.  We  halted  about  half-past  nine  in 
the  evening.  It  is  perceptible  how  the  days  lengthen, 
and  how  much  later  the  sun  sets ;  in  a  few  days'  time  we 
shall  have  the  midnight  sun. 

"  We  killed  'Livjaegeren  '  yesterday  evening,  and  hard 
work  it  was  skinning  him."  This  was  the  first  dog 
which  had  to  be  killed ;  but  many  came  afterwards,  and 


144  FARTHEST  NORTH 

it  was  some  of  the  most  disagreeable  work  we  had  on 
the  journey,  particularly  now  at  the  beginning,  when  it 
was  so  cold.  When  this  first  dog  was  dismembered  and 
given  to  the  others,  many  of  them  went  supperless  the 
whole  night  in  preference  to  touching  the  meat.  But  as 
the  days  went  by  and  they  became  more  worn  out,  they 
learned  to  appreciate  dog's  flesh,  and  later  we  were  not 
even  so  considerate  as  to  skin  the  butchered  animal,  but 
served  it  hair  and  all. 

The  following  day  the  ice  was  occasionally  somewhat 
better;  but  as  a  rule  it  was  bad,  and  we  became  more 
and  more  worn  out  with  the  never-ending  work  of  help- 
ing the  dogs,  righting  the  sledges  every  time  they  cap- 
sized, and  hauling  them,  or  carrying  them  bodily,  over 
hummocks  and  inequalities  of  the  ground.  Sometimes 
we  were  so  sleepy  in  the  evenings  that  our  eyes  shut  and 
we  fell  asleep  as  we  went  along.  My  head  would  drop, 
and  I  would  be  awakened  by  suddenly  falling  forward 
on  my  snow-shoes.  Then  we  would  stop,  after  having 
found  a  camping-ground  behind  a  hummock  or  ridge  of 
ice,  where  there  was  some  shelter  from  the  wind.  While 
Johansen  looked  after  the  dogs,  it  generally  fell  to  my  lot 
to  pitch  the  tent,  fill  the  cooker  with  ice,  light  the  burner, 
and  start  the  supper  as  quickly  as  possible.  This  gener- 
ally consisted  of  "  lobscouse  "  one  day,  made  of  pemmi- 
can  and  dried  potatoes ;  another  day  of  a  sort  of  fish  ris- 
sole substance  known  as  "  fiskegratin  "  in  Norway,  and  in 
this  case   composed    of   fish  -  meal,  flour,  and  butter.     A 


WE    SAY  GOOD-BYE    TO    THE    '' FRAM''  145 

third  day  it  would  be  pea,  bean,  or  lentil  soup,  with  bread 
and  pemmican.  Johansen  preferred  the  "  lobscouse," 
while  I  had  a  weakness  for  the  "  fiskegratin."  As  time 
went  by,  however,  he  came  over  to  my  way  of  thinking, 
and  the  "fiskegratin"  took  precedence  of  everything 
else. 

As  soon  as  Johansen  had  finished  with  the  dogs,  and 
the  different  receptacles  containing  the  ingredients  and 
eatables  for  breakfast  and  supper  had  been  brought  in,  as 
well  as  our  bags  with  private  necessities,  the  sleeping-bags 
were  spread  out,  the  tent  door  carefully  shut,  and  we 
crept  into  the  bag  to  thaw  our  clothes.  This  was  not 
very  agreeable  work.  During  the  course  of  the  day  the 
damp  exhalations  of  the  body  had  little  by  little  become 
condensed  in  our  outer  garments,  which  were  now  a  mass 
of  ice  and  transformed  into  complete  suits  of  ice-armor. 
They  were  so  hard  and  stiff  that  if  we  had  only  been 
able  to  get  them  off  they  could  have  stood  by  themselves, 
and  they  crackled  audibly  every  time  we  moved.  These 
clothes  were  so  stiff  that  the  arm  of  my  coat  actually 
rubbed  deep  sores  in  my  wrists  during  our  marches ;  one 
of  these  sores — the  one  on  the  right  hand — got  frost- 
bitten, the  wound  grew  deeper  and  deeper,  and  nearly 
reached  the  bone.  I  tried  to  protect  it  with  bandages, 
but  not  until  late  in  the  summer  did  it  heal,  and  I  shall 
probably  have  the  scar  for  life.  When  we  got  into  our 
sleeping-bags  in  the  evening  our  clothes  began  to  thaw 

slowly,  and    on   this   process   a   considerable  amount  of 
II.— 10 


146  FARTHEST  NORTH 

physical  heat  was  expended.  We  packed  ourselves  tight 
into  the  bag,  and  lay  with  our  teeth  chattering  for  an 
hour,  or  an  hour  and  a  half,  before  we  became  aware  of  a 
little  of  the  warmth  in  our  bodies  which  we  so  sorely 
needed.  At  last  our  clothes  became  wet  and  pliant,  only 
to  freeze  again  a  few  minutes  after  we  had  turned  out  of 
the  bag  in  the  morning.  There  was  no  question  of  get- 
ting these  clothes  dried  on  the  journey  so  long  as  the 
cold  lasted,  as  more  and  more  moisture  from  the  body 
collected  in  them. 

How  cold  we  were  as  we  lay  there  shivering  in  the 
bag,  waiting  for  the  supper  to  be  ready !  I,  who  was 
cook,  was  obliged  to  keep  myself  more  or  less  awake  to 
see  to  the  culinary  operations,  and  sometimes  I  succeeded. 
At  last  the  supper  was  ready,  was  portioned  out,  and, 
as  always,  tasted  delicious.  These  occasions  were  the  su- 
preme moments  of  our  existence — moments  to  which  we 
looked  forward  the  whole  day  long.  But  sometimes  we 
were  so  weary  that  our  eyes  closed,  and  we  fell  asleep 
with  the  food  on  its  way  to  our  mouths.  Our  hands 
would  fall  back  inanimate  with  the  spoons  in  them  and 
the  food  fly  out  on  the  bag.  After  supper  we  generally 
permitted  ourselves  the  luxury  of  a  little  extra  drink, 
consisting  of  water,  as  hot  as  we  could  swallow  it,  in 
which  whey-powder  had  l5een  dissolved.  It  tasted  some- 
thing like  boiled  milk,  and  we  thought  it  wonderfully 
comforting;  it  seemed  to  warm  us  to  the  very  ends  of 
our    toes.     Then   we    would    creep  down    into    the    bag 


JF£    SAY   GOOD-BYE    TO    THE    '' ERAM"  147 

again,  buckle  the  flap  carefully  over  our  heads,  lie  close 
together,  and  soon  sleep  the  sleep  of  the  just.  But  even 
in  our  dreams  we  went  on  ceaselessly,  grinding  at  the 
sledges  and  driving  the  dogs,  always  northward,  and  I 
was  often  awakened  by  hearing  Johansen  calling  in  his 
sleep  to  "  Pan,"  or  "  Barrabas,"  or  "  Klapperslangen  " : 
"Get  on,  you  devil,  you!  Go  on,  you  brutes!  Sass, 
sass !  "^  Now  the  whole  thing  is  going  over !"  and  ex- 
ecrations less  fit  for  reproduction,  until  I  went  to  sleep 
again. 

In  the  morning  I,  as  cook,  was  obliged  to  turn  out  to 
prepare  the  breakfast,  which  took  an  hour's  time.  As  a 
rule,  it  consisted  one  morning  of  chocolate,  bread,  butter, 
and  pemmican;  another  of  oatmeal  porridge,  or  a  com- 
pound of  flour,  water,  and  butter,  in  imitation  of  our 
"  butter- porridge  "  at  home.  This  was  washed  down 
with  milk,  made  of  whey  -  powder  and  water.  The 
breakfast  ready,  Johansen  was  roused ;  we  sat  up  in 
the  sleeping-bag,  one  of  the  blankets  was  spread  out  as 
a  table-cloth,  and  we  fell  to  work.  We  had  a  com- 
fortable breakfast,  wrote  up  our  diaries,  and  then  had  to 
think  about  starting.  But  how  tired  we  sometimes  were, 
and  how  often  would  I  not  have  given  anything  to  be 
able  to  creep  to  the  bottom  of  the  bag  again  and 
sleep  the  clock  round.  It  seemed  to  me  as  if  this 
must  be  the  greatest  pleasure    in   life,  but  our  business 

*  Used  by  the  Lapps  to  their  dog. —  Trans. 


148  FARTHEST  NORTH 

was  to  fight  our  way  northward  —  always  northward. 
We  performed  our  toilets,  and  then  came  the  going 
out  into  the  cold  to  get  the  sledges  ready,  disentangle  the 
dogs'  traces,  harness  the  animals,  and  get  off  as  quickly 
as  possible.  I  went  first  to  find  the  way  through  the 
uneven  ice,  then  came  the  sledge  with  my  kayak.  The 
dogs  soon  learned  to  follow,  but  at  every  unevenness  of 
the  ground  they  stopped,  and  if  one  could  not  get  them 
all  to  start  again  at  the  same  time  by  a  shout,  and  so  pull 
the  sledge  over  the  difficulty,  one  had  to  go  back  to 
beat  or  help  them,  according  as  circumstances  neces- 
sitated. Then  came  Johansen  with  the  two  other  sledges, 
always  shouting  to  the  dogs  to  pull  harder,  always 
beating  them,  and  himself  hauling  to  get  the  sledges 
over  the  terrible  ridges  of  ice.  It  was  undeniable 
cruelty  to  the  poor  animals  from  first  to  last,  and  one 
must  often  look  back  on  it  with  horror.  It  makes  me 
shudder  even  now  when  I  think  of  how  we  beat  them 
mercilessly  with  thick  ash  sticks  when,  hardly  able  to 
move,  they  stopped  from  sheer  exhaustion.  It  made 
one's  heart  bleed  to  see  them,  but  we  turned  our  eyes 
away  and  hardened  ourselves.  It  was  necessary;  for- 
ward we  must  go,  and  to  this  end  everything  else  must 
give  place.  It  is  the  sad  part  of  expeditions  of  this  kind 
that  one  systematically  kills  all  better  feelings,  until  only 
hard-hearted  egoism  remains.  When  I  think  of  all  those 
splendid  animals,  toiling  for  us  without  a  murmur,  as 
long   as   they  could   strain  a  muscle,  never  getting  any 


W£    SAY  GOOD-BYE    TO    THE    '' FRAM''  149 

thanks  or  even  so  much  as  a  kind  word,  daily  writhing 
under  the  lash  until  the  time  came  when  they  could  do 
no  more  and  death  freed  them  from  their  pangs — when 
I  think  of  how  they  were  left  behind,  one  by  one,  up 
there  on  those  desolate  ice-fields,  which  had  been  witness 
to  their  faithfulness  and  devotion,  I  have  moments  of 
bitter  self-reproach.  It  took  us  two  alone  such  a  long 
time  to  pitch  the  tent,  feed  the  dogs,  cook,  etc.,  in  the 
evening,  and  then  break  up  again  and  get  ready  in  the 
morning,  that  the  days  never  seemed  long  enough  if  we 
were  to  do  proper  day's  marches,  and,  besides,  get  the 
sleep  we  required  at  night.  But  when  the  nights  became 
so  light,  it  was  not  so  necessary  to  keep  regular  hours 
any  longer,  and  we  started  when  we  pleased,  whether  it 
was  night  or  day.  We  stopped,  too,  when  it  suited  us, 
and  took  the  sleep  which  might  be  necessary  for  our- 
selves and  the  dogs.  I  tried  to  make  it  a  rule  that  our 
marches  were  to  be  of  nine  or  ten  hours'  duration.  In 
the  middle  of  the  day  we  generally  had  a  rest  and 
something  to  eat — as  a  rule,  bread-and-butter,  with  a 
little  pemmican  or  liver  pate.  These  dinners  were  a 
bitter  trial.  We  use  to  try  and  find  a  good  sheltered 
place,  and  sometimes  even  rolled  ourselves  up  in  our 
blankets,  but  all  the  same  the  wind  cut  right  through  us 
as  we  sat  on  the  sledges  eating  our  meal.  Sometimes, 
again,  we  spread  the  sleeping-bag  out  on  the  ice,  took 
our  food  with  us,  and  crept  well  in,  but  even  then  did 
not  succeed  in  thawing  either  it  or  our  clothes.    When 


150  FARTHEST  NORTH 

this  was  too  much  for  us  we  walked  up  and  down  to 
keep  ourselves  warm,  and  ate  our  food  as  we  walked. 
Then  came  the  no  less  bitter  task  of  disentangling  the 
dogs'  traces,  and  we  were  glad  when  we  could  get  off 
again.  In  the  afternoon,  as  a  rule,  we  each  had  a  piece 
of  meat-chocolate. 

Most  Arctic  travellers  who  have  gone  sledge  journeys 
have  complained  of  the  so-called  Arctic  thirst,  and  it  has 
been  considered  an  almost  unavoidable  evil  in  connection 
with  a  long  journey  across  wastes  of  snow.  It  is  often 
increased,  too,  by  the  eating  of  snow.  I  had  prepared 
myself  for  this  thirst,  from  which  we  had  also  suffered 
severely  when  crossing  Greenland,  and  had  taken  with 
me  a  couple  of  india-rubber  flasks,  which  we  filled  with 
water  every  morning  from  the  cooker,  and  which  by 
carrying  in  the  breast  could  be  protected  from  the  cold. 
To  my  great  astonishment,  however,  I  soon  discovered 
that  the  whole  day  would  often  pass  by  without  my  as 
much  as  tasting  the  water  in  my  flask.  As  time  went  by, 
the  less  need  did  I  feel  to  drink  during  the  day,  and  at  last 
I  gave  up  taking  water  with  me  altogether.  If  a  passing 
feeling  of  thirst  made  itself  felt,  a  piece  of  fresh  ice,  of 
which,  as  a  rule,  there  was  always  some  to  be  found,  was 
sufficient  to  dispel  it.*     The  reason  why  we  were  spared 

*  Whereas  eating  snow  may  increase  the  above-mentioned  feeling  of 
thirst,  and  have  disagreeable  consequences  in  other  ways,  sucking  a  piece 
of  ice,  which  will  soon  quench  it,  may  safely  be  resorted  to,  particularly  if 
it  be  held  in  the  hand  a  little  while  before  putting  it  in  the  mouth.  Many 
travellers  have,  no  doubt,  had  the  same  experience. 


W£    SAY  GOOD-BYE    TO    THE    '' FRAM''  151 

this  suffering,  which  has  been  one  of  the  greatest  hard- 
ships of  many  sledge  expeditions,  must  be  attributed  in  a 
great  measure  to  our  admirable  cooking  apparatus.  By 
the  help  of  this  we  were  able,  with  the  consumption  of  a 
minimum  of  fuel,  to  melt  and  boil  so  much  water  every 
morning  that  we  could  drink  all  we  wished.  There  was 
even  some  left  over,  as  a  rule,  which  had  to  be  thrown 
away.  The  same  thing  was  generally  the  case  in  the 
evening. 

"  Friday,  March  29th.  We  are  grinding  on,  but  very 
slowly.  The  ice  is  only  tolerable,  and  not  what  I  ex- 
pected from  the  beginning.  There  are  often  great 
ridges  of  piled-up  ice  of  dismal  aspect,  which  take  up  a 
great  deal  of  time,  as  one  must  go  on  ahead  to  find  a 
way,  and,  as  a  rule,  make  a  greater  or  less  detour  to  get 
over  them.  In  addition,  the  dogs  are  growing  rather 
slow  and  slack,  and  it  is  almost  impossible  to  get  them 
on.  And  then  this  endless  disentangling  of  the  hauling- 
ropes,  with  their  infernal  twists  and  knots,  which  get 
worse  and  worse  to  undo!  The  dogs  jump  over  and  in 
between  one  another  incessantly,  and  no  sooner  has  one 
carefully  cleared  the  hauling-ropes  than  they  are  twisted 
into  a  veritable  skein  again.  Then  one  of  the  sledges  is 
stopped  by  a  block  of  ice.  The  dogs  howl  impatiently 
to  follow  their  companions  in  front ;  then  one  bites 
through  a  trace  and  starts  off  on  his  own  account,  per- 
haps followed  by  one  or  two  others,  and  these  must  be 
caught  and  the  traces  knotted;  there  is  no  time  to  splice 


152  FARTHEST  NORTH 

them  properly,  nor  would  it  be  a  very  congenial  task  in 
this  cold.  So  we  go  on  when  the  ice  is  uneven,  and 
every  hour  and  a  half,  at  least,  have  to  stop  and  disen- 
tangle the  traces. 

"We  started  yesterday  about  half- past  eight  in  the 
morning,  and  stopped  about  five  in  the  afternoon.  After 
dinner  the  northeasterly  wind,  which  we  have  had  the 
whole  time,  suddenly  became  stronger,  and  the  sky  over- 
cast. We  welcomed  it  with  joy,  for  we  saw  in  it  the  sign 
of  a  probable  change  of  weather  and  an  end  to  this  per- 
petual cold  and  brightness.  I  do  not  think  we  deceived 
ourselves  either.  Yesterday  evening  the  temperature 
had  risen  to  —29.2°  F'ahr.  (  —  34°  C),  and  we  had  the  best 
night  in  the  bag  we  have  had  for  a  long  time.  Just 
now,  as  I  am  getting  the  breakfast  ready,  I  see  that  it 
is  clear  again,  and  the  sun  is  shining  through  the 
tent  wall. 

"  The  ice  we  are  now  travelling  over  seems,  on  the 
whole,  to  be  old ;  but  sometimes  we  come  across  tracts, 
of  considerable  width,  of  uneven  new  ice,  which  must 
have  been  pressed  up  a  considerable  time.  I  cannot 
account  for  it  in  any  other  way  than  by  supposing 
it  to  be  ice  from  great  open  pools  which  must  have 
formed  here  at  one  time.  We  have  traversed  pools  of 
this  description,  with  level  ice  on  them,  several  times." 
That  day  I  took  a  meridian  observation,  which,  however, 
did  not  make  us  farther  north  than  85°  30'.  I  could  not 
understand   this ;   thought   that  we   must   be   in  latitude 


WE  SAY   GOOD-BYE    TO    THE    '' ERAM  •'  153 

86°,   and,  therefore,  supposed  there  must  be  something 
wrono:  with  the  observation, 

"  Saturda}',  March  30th.  Yesterday  was  Tycho 
Brahe's  day.  At  first  we  found  much  uneven  ice,  and 
had  to  strike  a  devious  route  to  get  through  it,  so  that 
our  day's  march  did  not  amount  to  much,  although  we 
kept  at  it  a  long  time.  At  the  end  of  it,  however,  and 
after  considerable  toil,  we  found  ourselves  on  splendid 
flat  ice,  more  level  than  it  had  been  for  a  long  time. 
At  last,  then,  we  had  come  on  some  more  of  the  good 
old  kind,  and  could  not  complain  of  some  rubble  and 
snow-drifts  here  and  there;  but  then  we  were  stopped 
by  some  ugly  pressure-ridges  of  the  worst  kind,  formed 
by  the  packing  of  enormous  blocks.  The  last  ridge 
was  the  worst  of  all,  and  before  it  yawned  a  crack  in  the 
thick  ice  about  12  feet  deep.  When  the  first  sledge 
was  going  over  all  the  dogs  fell  in  and  had  to  be  hauled 
up  again.  One  of  them  — '  Klapperslangen'  —  slipped 
his  harness  and  ran  away.  As  the  next  sledge  was 
going  over  it  fell  in  bodily,  but  happily  was  not  smashed 
to  atoms,  as  it  might  have  been.  We  had  to  unload  it 
entirely  in  order  to  get  it  up  again,  and  then  reload,  all 
of  which  took  up  a  great  deal  of  time.  Then,  too,  the 
dogs  had  to  be  thrown  down  and  dragged  up  on  the 
other  side.  With  the  third  sledge  we  managed  better, 
and  after  we  had  gone  a  little  way  farther  the  runaway 
dog  came  back.  At  last  we  reached  a  camping-ground, 
pitched  our  tent,  and  found  that  the  thermometer  showed 


154 


FARTHEST  NORTH 


—  45.4°  Fahr.  (  —  43°  C).  Disentangling  dog-traces  in  this 
temperature  with  one's  bare,  frost-bitten,  almost  skinless 
hands  is  desperate  work.  But  finally  we  were  in  our 
dear   bag,   with    the   '  Primus '   singing   cozily,   when,   to 


A    NIGHT    CAMP    ON    THE    JOURNEY    NORTH 


crown  our  misfortunes,  I  discovered  that  it  would  not 
burn.  I  examined  it  everywhere,  but  could  find  noth- 
ing wrong.  Johansen  had  to  turn  out  and  go  and  fetch 
the    tools    and    a    reserve    burner   while    I    studied    the 


IV£   SAY   GOOD-BYE    TO    THE  '^  FRAM ''  155 

cooker.  At  last  I  discovered  that  some  ice  had  eot  in 
under  the  Hd,  and  this  had  caused  a  leakage.  Finally 
we  got  it  to  light,  and  at  5  o'clock  in  the  morning  the 
pea-soup  was  ready,  and  very  good  it  was.  At  three  in 
the  afternoon  I  was  up  again  cooking.  Thank  Heaven, 
it  is  warm  and  comfortable  in  the  bag,  or  this  sort  of 
life  would  be  intolerable  ! 

"Sunday,  March  31st.  Yesterda}^  at  last,  came  the 
long-wished-for  change  of  weather,  with  southerly  wind 
and  rising  temperature.  Early  this  morning  the  ther- 
mometer showed  —22°  Fahr.  (  —  30"  C),  regular  summer 
weather,  in  fact.  It  was,  therefore,  with  lightened  hearts 
that  we  set  off  over  cjood  ice  and  with  the  wind  at  our 
backs.  On  we  w^ent  at  a  very  fair  pace,  and  everything 
was  going  well,  when  a  lane  suddenly  opened  just  in 
front  of  the  first  sledge.  We  managed  to  get  this  over 
by  the  skin  of  our  teeth ;  but  just  as  we  were  going 
to  cross  the  lane  again  after  the  other  sledges,  a  large 
piece  of  ice  broke  under  Johansen,  and  he  fell  in,  wet- 
ting both  legs  —  a  deplorable  incident.  While  the  lane 
was  gradually  opening  more  and  more,  I  went  up  and 
down  it  to  find  a  way  over,  but  without  success.  Here 
we  were,  with  one  man  and  a  sledge  on  one  side,  two 
sledges  and  a  wet  man  on  the  other,  with  an  ever-widen- 
ing lane  between.  The  kayaks  could  not  be  launched, 
as,  through  the  frequent  capsizing  of  the  sledges,  they 
had  got  holes  in  them,  and  for  the  time  being  were  use- 
less.    This  was  a  cheerful  prospect  for  the  night,  I  on 


156 


FARTHEST  NORTH 


one  side  with  the  tent,  Johansen,  probably  frozen  stiff, 
on  the  other.  At  last,  after  a  long  detour,  I  found  a 
way  over;  and  the  sledges  were  conveyed  across.  It 
was  out  of  the  question,  however,  to  attempt  to  go  on, 
as  Johansen's  nether  extremities  were  a  mass  of  ice  and 
his  overalls  so  torn  that  extensive  repairs  were  neces- 
sary. 


CHAPTER   V 


A    HARD    STRUGGLE 


"  Tuesday,  April  3d.  There  are  many  different  kinds 
of  difficulty  to  overcome  on  this  journey,  but  the  worst 
of  all,  perhaps,  is  getting  all  the  trifles  done  and  start- 
ing off.  In  spite  of  my  being  up  by  7  o'clock  on  Mon- 
day evening  to  do  the  cooking,  it  was  nearly  two  this 
morning  before  we  got  clear  of  our  camping -ground. 
The  load  on  Johansen's  sledge  had  to  be  relashed,  as 
the  contents  of  one  grip  had  been  eaten  up,  and  we 
had  to  put  a  sack  of  bread  in  its  place.  Another  grip 
had  to  be  sewed  together,  as  it  was  dripping  pemmican. 
Then  the  sledge  from  which  the  bread -sack  had  been 
taken  had  to  be  lashed  secure  again,  and  while  we  had 
the  ropes  undone  it  was  just  as  well  to  get  out  a  supply 
of  potatoes.*  During  this  operation  we  discovered  that 
there  was  a  hole  in  the  fish -flour  sack,  which  we  tied 
up,  but    no    sooner    had    we    done    so    than    we    found 


*  We  always  kept  a  supply  of  our  various  provisions  in  small  bags  inside 
the  kayaks,  so  that  we  could  get  out  whatever  we  wanted  for  our  daily 
consumption  without  undoing  the  big  sacks,  which  were  sewed  up  or 
securely  fastened  in  other  ways. 


158  FARTHEST  NORTH 

another  large  one  which  required  sewing.  When  we 
came  to  pack  the  potato -sack,  this  too  had  a  hole 
in  it,  which  we  tied  up,  and  so  on.  Then  the  dogs' 
traces  had  to  be  disentangled ;  the  whole  thing  was  in  an 
inextricable  muddle,  and  the  knots  and  twists  in  the  icy, 
frozen  rope  got  worse  and  worse  to  deal  with.  Johansen 
made  haste  and  patched  his  trousers  before  breakfast. 
The  south  wind  had  become  what  on  board  the  Fram  we 
should  have  called  a  '  mill  breeze  '  (/>.,  19  to  23  feet  in  the 
second) ;  and,  with  this  at  our  back,  we  started  off  in 
driving  snow.  Everything  went  splendidly  at  first,  but 
then  came  one  pressure-ridge  after  another,  and  each  one 
was  worse  than  the  last.  We  had  a  long  halt  for  dinner 
at  eight  or  nine  in  the  morning,  after  having  chosen  our- 
selves a  sheltered  place  in  the  lee  of  a  ridge.  We 
spread  out  the  sleeping-bag,  crept  down  into  it  with  our 
food,  and  so  tired  was  I  that  I  went  to  sleep  with  it 
in  my  hand.  I  dreamed  I  was  in  Norway,  and  on  a 
visit  to  some  people  I  had  only  seen  once  in  my  life 
before.  It  was  Christmas -day,  and  I  was  shown  into  a 
great  empty  room,  where  we  were  intended  to  dine.  It 
was  very  cold  in  it,  and  I  shivered,  but  there  were 
already  some  hot  dishes  steaming  on  the  table,  and  a 
beautiful  fat  goose.  How  unspeakably  did  I  look  for- 
ward to  that  goose !  Then  some  other  visitors  began  to 
arrive ;  I  could  see  them  through  the  window,  and  was 
just  going  out  to  meet  them  when  I  stumbled  into  deep 
snow.     How  it  all  happened,  in  the  middle  of  the  dining- 


o 

H 
'X 

> 

O 

C/2 


5   r^ 
I   ^ 

^    O 


00 

vO 


A    HARD    STRUGGLE  i6i 

room  floor,  I  know  not.  The  host  laughed  in  an  amused 
way,  and — I  woke  up  and  found  myself  shivering  in  a 
sleeping-bag  on  the  drift-ice  in  the  far  north.  Oh,  how 
miserable  I  felt !  We  got  up,  packed  our  things  silently 
together,  and  started  off.  Not  until  4  o'clock  that 
afternoon  did  we  stop,  but  everything  was  dull  and 
cheerless,  and  it  was  long  before  I  got  over  my  dis- 
appointment. What  would  I  not  have  given  for  that 
dinner,  or  for  one  hour  in  the  room,  cold  as  it  was! 

"  The  ridges  and  the  lanes  which  had  frozen  too:ether 
again,  with  rubble  on  either  side,  became  worse  and 
worse.  Making  one's  way  through  these  new  ridges  is 
desperate  work.  One  cannot  use  snow-shoes,  as  there  is 
too  little  snow  between  the  piled-up  blocks  of  ice,  and  one 
must  wade  along  without  them.  It  is  also  impossible 
to  see  anything  in  this  thick  weather — everything  is 
white — irregularities  and  holes ;  and  the  spaces  between 
the  blocks  are  covered  with  a  thin,  deceptive  layer  of 
snow,  which  lets  one  crashing  through  into  cracks  and 
pitfalls,  so  that  one  is  lucky  to  get  off  without  a  broken 
leg.  It  is  necessary  to  go  long  distances  on  ahead  in 
order  to  find  a  way ;  sometimes  one  must  search  in  one 
direction,  sometimes  in  another,  and  then  back  again 
to  fetch  the  sledges,  with  the  result  that  the  same  ground 
is  gone  over  many  times.  Yesterday,  when  we  stopped, 
I  really  was  done.  The  worst  of  it  all,  though,  was  that 
when  we  finally  came    to  a  standstill  we    had    been  on 

the  move  so  long  that    it  was  too    late  to  wind   up  our 
II.— II 


1 62  FARTHEST  NORTH 

watches.  Johansen's  had  stopped  altogether;  mine  was 
ticking,  and  happily  still  going  when  I  wound  it  up,  so 
I  hope  that  it  is  all  right.  Twelve  midday,  —24.6°  Fahr. 
(  —  31.5°  C).  Clear  weather,  southeasterly  wind  (13  feet 
in  the  second). 

"  The  ice  seems  to  be  getting  worse  and  worse,  and 
I  am  beginning  to  have  doubts  as  to  the  wisdom  of  keep- 
ing northward  too  long. 

"  Wednesday,  April  3d.  Got  under  way  yesterday 
about  three  in  the  afternoon.  The  snow  was  in  first- 
rate  condition  after  the  southeast  wind,  which  continued 
blowing  till  late  in  the  day.  The  ice  was  tolerably 
passable,  and  everything  looked  more  promising;  the 
weather  was  fine,  and  we  made  good  progress.  But 
after  several  level  tracts  with  old  humpy  ice  came  some 
very  uneven  ones,  intersected  by  lanes  and  pressure- 
ridges  as  usual.  Matters  did  not  grow  any  better 
as  time  went  on,  and  at  midnight  or  soon  after  we 
were  stopped  by  some  bad  ice  and  a  newly  frozen  lane 
which  would  not  bear.  As  we  should  have  had  to 
make  a  long  detour,  we  encamped,  and  '  Russen '  was 
killed  (this  was  the  second  dog  to  go).  The  meat  was 
divided  into  26  portions,  but  8  dogs  refused  it,  and 
had  to  be  given  pernmican.  The  ice  ahead  does  not 
look  inviting.  These  ridges  are  enough  to  make  one 
despair,  and  there  seems  to  be  no  prospect  of  things 
bettering.  I  turned  out  at  midday  and  took  a  meridian 
observation,  which  makes  us  in  85°  59'  N.     It  is  aston- 


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NOTHING    BUT    ICE,  ICE    TO    THE    HORIZON.       APRIL    7,    1 895 


A   HARD   STRUGGLE  163 

ishing  that  we  have  not  got  farther;  we  seem  to  toil  all 
we  can,  but  without  much  progress.  Beginning  to  doubt 
seriously  of  the  advisability  of  continuing  northward 
much  longer.  It  is  three  times  as  far  to  Franz  Josef 
Land  as  the  distance  we  have  now  come.  How  may  the 
ice  be  in  that  direction  ?  We  can  hardly  count  on  its 
being  better  than  here,  or  our  progress  quicker.  Then, 
too,  the  shape  and  extent  of  Franz  Josef  Land  are  un- 
known, and  may  cause  us  considerable  delay,  and  per- 
haps we  shall  not  be  able  to  find  any  game  just  at  once. 
I  have  long  seen  that  it  is  impossible  to  reach  the  Pole 
itself  or  its  immediate  vicinity  over  such  ice  as  this  and 
with  these  dogs.  If  only  we  had  more  of  them !  What 
would  I  not  give  now  to  have  the  Olenek  dogs.f*  We 
must  turn,  sooner  or  later.  But  as  it  is  only  a  question 
of  time,  could  we  not  turn  it  to  better  account  in  Franz 
Josef  Land  than  by  travelling  over  this  drift-ice,  which 
we  have  now  had  a  good  opportunity  of  learning  to 
know.'^  In  all  probability  it  will  be  exactly  the  same 
right  to  the  Pole.  We  cannot  hope  to  reach  any  con- 
siderable distance  higher  before  time  compels  us  to  turn. 
We  certainly  ought  not  to  wait  much  longer.  Twelve 
midday,  —20.8°  Fahr.  (-29.4^  C),  clear  weather,  3  feet 
wind  from  east ;  twelve  midnight,  —29.2°  Fahr.  (  —  34°  C), 
clear  and  still." 

It  became  more  and  more  of  a  riddle  to  me  that  we 
did  not  make  greater  progress  northward.  I  kept  on 
calculating  and  adding  up  our  marches  as  we  went  along, 


1 64  FARTHEST  NORTH 

but  always  with  the  same  result ;  that  is  to  say,  provided 
only  the  ice  were  still,  we  must  be  far  above  the  eighty- 
sixth  parallel.  It  was  becoming  only  too  clear  to  me, 
however,  that  the  ice  was  moving  southward,  and  that  in 
its  capricious  drift,  at  the  mercy  of  wind  and  current,  we 
had  our  worst  enemy  to  combat. 

"  Friday,  April  5th.  Began  our  march  at  three  yes- 
terday morning.  The  ice,  however,  was  bad,  with  lanes 
and  ridges,  so  that  our  progress  was  but  little.  These 
lanes,  with  rubble  thrown  up  on  each  side,  are  our 
despair.  It  is  like  driving  over  a  tract  of  rocks,  and 
delays  us  terribly.  First  I  must  go  on  ahead  to  find  a 
way,  and  then  get  my  sledge  through ;  then,  perhaps,  by 
way  of  a  change,  one  falls  into  the  water ;  yesterday,  I 
fell  through  twice.  If  I  work  hard  in  finding  a  way  and 
guiding  my  sledge  over  rough  places,  Johansen  is  no 
better  off,  with  his  two  sledo^es  to  look  after.  It  is  a 
tough  job  to  get  even  one  of  them  over  the  rubble,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  ridges;  but  he  is  a  plucky  fellow,  and 
no  mistake,  and  never  gives  in.  Yesterday  he  fell  into 
the  water  again  in  crossing  a  lane,  and  got  w^t  up  to  his 
knees.  I  had  gone  over  on  my  snow-shoes  shortly  before 
and  did  not  notice  that  the  ice  was  weak.  He  came 
afterwards  without  snow-shoes,  walking  beside  one  of  the 
sledges,  when  suddenly  the  ice  gave,  and  he  fell  through. 
Happily  he  managed  to  catch  hold  of  the  sledge,  and  the 
dogs,  which  did  not  stop,  pulled  him  up  again.  These 
baths  are  not  an  unmixed  pleasure,  now  that  there  is  no 


>^ 


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CO 
on 


«-'.%>- 


_iv%A 


0  ■ 


A  HARD    STRUGGLE  167 

possibility  of  drying  or  changing  one's  clothes,  and  one 
must  wear  a  chain  mail  of  ice  until  they  thaw  and  dry  on 
the  body,  which  takes  some  time  in  this  temperature.  I 
took  an  observation  for  longitude  and  a  magnetic  obser- 
vation yesterday  morning,  and  have  spent  the  whole  fore- 
noon to-day  in  calculations  (inside  the  bag)  to  find  out 
our  exact  position.  I  find  our  latitude  yesterday  was 
86°  2.8'  N.  This  is  very  little,  but  what  can  we  do  when 
the  ice  is  what  it  is  ?  And  these  dogs  cannot  work 
harder  than  they  do,  poor  things.  I  sigh  for  the  sledge- 
dogs  from  the  Olenek  daily  now.  The  longitude  for  yes- 
terday was  98°  47.15",  variation  44.4°. 

"  I  begin  to  think  more  and  more  that  we  ought  to 
turn  back  before  the  time  we  originally  fixed.*  It  is 
probably  350  miles  or  so  to  Petermann's  Land  (in  point 
of  fact  it  was  about  450  miles  to  Cape  Fligely) ;  but  it 
wnll  probably  take  us  all  we  know  to  get  over  them. 
The  question  resolves  itself  into  this :  Ought  we  not,  at 
any  rate,  to  reach  '^']°  N.  ?  But  I  doubt  whether  we  can 
manage  it  if  the  ice  does  not  improve. 

"Saturday,  April  6th.  Two  a.m.,  —11.4°  Fahr. 
(  —  24.2°  C).  The  ice  grew  worse  and  worse.  Yester- 
day it  brought  me  to  the  verge  of  despair,  and  when  we 
stopped  this  morning  I  had  almost  decided  to  turn  back. 
I  will  go  on  one  day  longer,  however,  to  see  if  the  ice  is 
really  as  bad  farther  northward  as  it  appears  to  be  from 

*  When  I  left  the  ship  I  had  purposed  to  travel  northward  for  50  days, 
for  which  time  we  had  taken  provender  for  the  dogs. 


1 68  FARTHEST  NORTH 

the  ridge,  30  feet  in  height,  where  we  are  encamped.  We 
hardly  made  4  miles  yesterday.  Lanes,  ridges,  and  end- 
less rough  ice,  it  looks  like  an  endless  moraine  of  ice- 
blocks  ;  and  this  continual  lifting  of  the  sledges  over 
every  irregularity  is  enough  to  tire  out  giants.  Curious 
this  rubble-ice.  For  the  most  part  it  is  not  so  very  mas- 
sive, and  seems  as  if  it  had  been  forced  up  somewhat 
recently,  for  it  is  incompletely  covered  with  thin,  loose 
snow,  through  which  one  falls  suddenly  up  to  one's  mid- 
dle. And  thus  it  extends  mile  after  mile  northward, 
while  every  now  and  then  there  are  old  floes,  with 
mounds  that  have  been  rounded  off  by  the  action  of  the 
sun  in  the  summer — often  very  massive  ice. 

"  I  am  rapidly  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  w^e  are 
not  doing  any  good  here.  We  shall  not  be  able  to  get 
much  farther  north,  and  it  will  be  slow  work  indeed  if 
there  be  much  more  of  this  sort  of  ice  towards  Franz 
Josef  Land.  On  the  other  hand,  we  should  be  able  to 
make  much  better  use  of  our  time  there,  if  we  should 
have  any  over.     8.30  p.m.,  -29.2°  Fahr.  (-34°  C). 

"  Monday,  April  8th.  No ;  the  ice  grew  worse  and 
worse,  and  we  got  no  way.  Ridge  after  ridge,  and 
nothine  but  rubble  to  travel  over.  We  made  a  start 
at  2  o'clock  or  so  this  morning,  and  kept  at  it  as  long 
as  we  could,  lifting  the  sledges  all  the  time  ;  but  it  grew 
too  bad  at  last.  I  went  on  a  good  way  ahead  on  snow- 
shoes,  but  saw  no  reasonable  prospect  of  advance,  and 
from  the  highest  hummocks  only  the  same  kind  of  ice 


A   HARD   STRUGGLE 


169 


I    WENT    ON    AHEAD    ON    SNOW-SHOES 


was  to  be  seen.  It  was  a  veritable  chaos  of  ice-blocks, 
stretchinof  as  far  as  the  horizon.  There  is  not  much 
sense  in  keeping  on  longer;  we  are  sacrificing  valuable 
time  and  doing  little.  If  there  be  much  more  such  ice 
between  here  and  Franz  Josef  Land,  we  shall,  indeed, 
want  all  the  time  we  have. 


I/O  FARTHEST  NORTH 

"I  therefore  determined  to  stop,  and  shape  our  course 
for  Cape  FHgely. 

"  On  this  northernmost  camping-ground  we  indulged 
in  a  banquet,  consisting  of  lobscouse,  bread-and-butter, 
dry  chocolate,  stewed  '  tytlebaer,'  or  red  whortleberries, 
and  our  hot  whey  drink,  and  then,  with  a  delightful  and 
unfamiliar  feeling  of  repletion,  crept  into  the  dear  bag, 
our  best  friend.  I  took  a  meridian  observation  yes- 
terday, by  which  I  see  that  we  should  be  in  latitude 
86^  lo'  N.,  or  thereabouts.*  This  morning  I  took  an 
observation   for  longitude.     At   8.30   a.m.,   —25.6°   Fahr. 

(-32°  C.). 

"  Tuesday,  April  9th.  Yesterday's  was  our  first  march 
homeward.  We  expected  the  same  impracticable  ice, 
but,  to  our  amazement,  had  not  gone  far  before  we  came 
on  tolerably  good  ground,  which  improved  steadily,  and, 
with  only  a  few  stoppages,  we  kept  at  it  till  this  morning. 
We  came  upon  ridges,  to  be  sure,  but  they  always  al- 
lowed themselves  to  be  negotiated  pretty  easily,  and  we 
did  well.  Started  yesterday  about  two  in  the  afternoon, 
and  kept  going  until  one  this  morning. 

"  Thursday,  April  iith.  Better  and  better.  Found 
nothing  but  beautiful  level  tracks  of  ice  yesterday,  with  a 
few  ridges,  which  were  easy  to  get  over,  and  some  lanes, 
with  young  ice  on,  which  gave  us  rather  more  trouble. 

*  This  was  the  latitude  I  got  by  a  rough  estimation,  but  on  further 
calculation  it  proved  to  be  86°  13.6'  N. ;  the  longitude  was  about 
95°  E. 


A   HARD   STRUGGLE  171 

They  ran,  however,  about  in  our  direction  (our  course  is 
now  the  magnetic  S.  22°  W.,  or  about  the  true  W.S.W.), 
and  we  could  sfo  alon2:side  them.  At  last,  however,  we 
had  to  make  a  crossing,  and  accomplished  it  successfully, 
although  the  ice  bent  under  us  and  our  sledges  more  than 
was  desirable.     Late  in  the  afternoon  we  came  across  a 


"  ON    TOLERABLY    GOOD    GROUND 

channel,  which  we  proposed  to  cross  in  the  same  way. 
We  reached  the  other  side  with  the  first  sledge  safely 
enough,  but  not  so  with  the  other.  Hardly  had  the 
leaders  of  the  team  got  out  to  the  dangerous  place  where 
the  ice  was  thinnest,  and  where  some  water  had  come  up 
on  to  it,  when  they  stopped  and  warily  dipped  their  paws 
in  the  water.  Then  through  went  one  of  them,  splashing 
and  struggling  to  get  out.     The  ice  began  to  sink  under 


1/2  FARTHEST  NORTH 

the  weight  of  the  other  dogs  and  the  sledge,  and  the 
water  came  flowing  up.  I  dragged  dogs  and  sledge  back 
as  quickly  as  possible,  and  succeeded  in  driving  them  all 
on  to  the  firm  ice  again  in  safety.  We  tried  once  again 
at  another  place,  I  running  over  first  on  snow-shoes  and 
calling  to  the  dogs,  and  Johansen  pushing  behind,  but 
the  result  was  no  better  than  the  first  time,  as  '  Suggen ' 
fell  in,  and  we  had  to  go  back.  Only  after  a  long  detour, 
and  very  much  fagged,  did  we  finally  succeed  in  getting 
the  last  two  sledges  over.  We  were  lucky  in  finding 
a  good  camping-place,  and  had  the  warmest  night  and 
the  most  comfortable  (I  might  almost  say  cozy)  morn- 
ing— spent,  be  it  said,  in  repairs — that  we  have  had  on 
the  trip.  I  think  we  did  the  longest  day's  march  yester- 
day that  we  have  yet  achieved — about  15  miles.  Two  in 
the  afternoon,  -17.6°  Fahr.  (—27.6°  C). 

"  Saturday,  April  1 3th.  We  have  traversed  nothing 
but  good  ice  for  three  days.  If  this  goes  on,  the 
return  journey  will  be  quicker  than  I  thought.  I  do 
not  understand  this  sudden  change  in  the  nature  of  the 
ice.  Can  it  be  that  we  are  travelling  in  the  same  di- 
rection with  the  trend  of  the  ridges  and  irregularities, 
so  that  now  we  go  along  between  them  instead  of 
having  to  make  our  way  over  them }  The  lanes  we 
have  come  across  seem  all  to  point  to  this ;  they  follow 
our  course  pretty  closely.  We  had  the  misfortune  yester- 
day to  let  our  watches  run  down ;  the  time  between 
our  getting  into  the  bag  on  the  previous  night  and  en- 


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A    HARD   STRUGGLE  175 

camping  yesterday  was  too  long.  Of  course  we  wound 
them  up  again,  but  the  only  thing  I  can  now  do  to  find 
Greenwich  mean  time  is  take  a  time-observation  and  an 
observation  for  latitude,  and  then  estimate  the  approxi- 
mate distance  from  our  turning-point  on  April  8th,  when 
I  took  the  last  observation  for  longitude.  By  this  means 
the  error  will  hardly  be  great. 

"  I  conclude  that  we  have  not  gone  less  than  14  miles 
a  day  on  an  average  the  last  three  days,  and  have 
consequently  advanced  40  or  more  miles  in  a  direction 
S.  22"  W.  (magnetic).  When  we  stopped  here  yesterday 
'  Barbara '  was  killed.  These  slaughterings  are  not  very 
pleasant  episodes.  Clear  weather;  at  6.30  this  morning 
—  22°  Fahr.  {  —  '^o^  C.) ;  wind  south  (6  to  9  feet). 

"April  14th.  Easter-day.  We  were  unfortunate  with 
lanes  yesterday,  and  they  forced  us  considerably  out  of 
our  course.  We  were  stopped  at  last  by  a  particularly 
awkward  one,  and  after  I  had  gone  alongside  it  to  find  a 
crossing  for  some  distance  without  success,  I  thought  we 
had  better,  in  the  circumstances,  pitch  our  tent  and  have 
a  festive  Easter-eve.  In  addition,  I  wished  to  reckon  out 
our  latitude,  longitude,  our  observation  for  time,  and  our 
variation ;  it  was  a  question  of  getting  the  right  time 
again  as  quickly  as  possible.  The  tent  up,  and  Johansen 
attending  to  the  dogs,  I  crept  into  the  bag;  but  lying 
thawing  in  this  frozen  receptacle,  with  frozen  clothes 
and  shoes,  and  simultaneously  working  out  an  observa- 
tion and  looking  up  logarithms,  with  tender,  frost-bitten 


176  FARTHEST  NORTH 

fingers,  is  not  pleasurable,  even  if  the  temperature  be 
only  —22°  Fahr.  It  is  slow  work,  and  Easter-day  has 
had  to  be  devoted  to  the  rest  of  the  calculation,  so  that 
we  shall  not  get  off  before  this  evening.  Meanwhile 
we  had  a  festive  Easter-eve  and  regaled  ourselves  with 
the  following  delicacies :  hot  whey  and  water,  fish  an 
gratin,  stewed  red  whortleberries,  and  lime-juice  grog 
{i.e.,  lime-juice  tablets  and  a  little  sugar  dissolved  in  hot 
water).  Simply  a  splendid  dinner;  and,  having  feasted 
our  fill,  we  at  last,  at  2  o'clock,  crept  in  under  the  cover. 

"  I  have  calculated  our  previous  latitudes  and  longi- 
tudes over  again  to  see  if  I  can  discover  any  mistake 
in  them.  I  find  that  we  should  yesterday  have  come 
farther  south  than  86°  5.3'  N. ;  but,  according  to  our 
reckoning,  assuming  that  we  covered  50  miles  during 
the  three  days,  we  should  have  come  down  to  85  de- 
grees and  50  odd  minutes.  I  cannot  explain  it  in 
any  other  manner  than  by  the  surmise  that  we  have 
been  drifting  rapidly  northward,  which  is  very  good 
for  the  Fram,  but  less  so  for  us.  The  wind  has  been 
southerly  the  last  few  days.  I  assume  that  we  are  now  in 
longitude  86°  E.,  and  have  reckoned  the  present  reading 
of  our  watches  accordingly.*     The  variation  here  I  find 

*  I  felt  convinced  we  could  not  have  reached  such  a  westerly  longitude, 
but  assumed  this  for  the  sake  of  certainty,  as  I  would  rather  come  down 
on  the  east  side  of  Franz  Josef  Land  than  on  the  west  side.  Should  we 
reach  the  latitude  of  Petermann's  Land  or  Prince  Rudolf  Land  without  see- 
ing them,  I  should  in  the  former  case  be  certain  that  we  had  them  on  our 
west,  and  could  then  look  for  them  in  that  direction,  whereas,  in  the  event 


-   o 
o  t 


B.Z   ■^ 


V  2 


A   HARD    STRUGGLE  177 

to  be  42.5°.  Yesterday  we  steered  S.  10°  W.  (magnetic); 
to-day  I  will  keep  S.  5  \\\,  and  to-morrow  due  south. 
By  way  of  a  change  to-day  the  sky  has  been  overcast; 
but  this  evening,  when  we  partook  of  our  second  break- 
fast, the  sun  was  shining  cheerily  in  through  the  tent- 
wall.  Johansen  has  patched  clothes  to-day,  while  I  have 
made  calculations  and  pricked  out  the  courses.  So  mild 
and  balmy  it  has  not  been  before.  10  p.  m.  -14^  Fahr. 
(-25.6°  C). 

"  Tuesday,  April  16th.  As  we  were  about  to  start  off 
at  I  o'clock  yesterday  morning, 'Baro  '  sneaked  away  be- 
fore we  could  harness  him  ;  he  had  seen  a  couple  of  the 
other  dogs  being  put  to,  and  knew  what  was  coming.  As 
I  did  not  wish  to  lose  the  dog — he  was  the  best  I  had  in 
my  team  —  this  caused  some  delay.  I  called  and  called, 
and  went  peering  round  the  hummocks  in  search  of  him, 
but  saw  nothing,  only  the  ice-pack,  ridge  upon  ridge  dis- 
appearing towards  the  horizon,  and  farthest  north  the 
midnight  sun  shining  over  all.  The  world  of  ice  was 
dreaming  in  the  bright,  cool  morning  light.  We  had  to 
leave  without  the  dog,  but,  to  my  great  delight,  I  soon 
caught  sight  of  him  far  behind  us  in  our  wake;  I  thought 
I  had  seen  his  good  face  for  the  last  time.  He  was  evi- 
dently ashamed  of  himself,  and  came  and  stood  quite  still, 
looking  up  at  me  imploringly  when  I  took  him  and  har- 

of  our  not  finding  land  and  being  uncertain  whether  we  were  too  far  east 
or  too  far  west,  we  should  not  then  know  in  what  direction  we  ought  to 
look  for  it. 

IL.  — 12 


178  FARTHEST  NORTH 

nessed  him.  I  had  meant  to  whip  the  dog,  but  his  eyes 
disarmed  me. 

"  We  found  good  passable  ice,  if  not  always  quite  flat, 
and  made  satisfactory  progress.  Some  ridges,  however, 
forced  us  west  of  our  course.  Later  on  in  the  morning  I 
discovered  that  I  had  left  my  compass  behind  at  some 
place  or  other  where  I  had  had  it  out  to  take  our  bearings. 
It  could  not  be  dispensed  with,  so  I  had  to  return  and  look 
for  it.  I  found  it,  too,  but  it  was  a  hard  pull-back,  and 
on  the  way  I  was  inconvenienced  for  the  first  time  by 
the  heat ;  the  sun  scorched  quite  unpleasantly.  When  I 
at  last  got  back  to  the  sledges  I  felt  rather  slack;  Johan- 
sen  was  sitting  on  the  kayak  fast  asleep,  basking  in  the 
sun.  Then  on  again,  but  the  light  and  warmth  made  us 
drowsy  and  slack,  and,  try  as  we  would,  we  seemed  to  lag; 
so  at  ten  in  the  forenoon  we  decided  to  camp,  and  I  was  not 
a  little  surprised,  when  I  took  the  meteorological  observa- 
tion, to  find  that  the  swing-thermometer  showed  —15.2° 
Fahr.  (  —  26.2"  C).  The  tent  was  accordingly  pitched  in 
the  broiling  sun,  and  nice  and  warm  it  soon  was  inside. 
We  had  a  comfortable  Easter  dinner,  which  did  service 
for  both  Easter-day  and  Easter-Monday.  I  reckon  the  dis- 
tances we  covered  on  Easter-eve  and  yesterday  at  about 
15  miles,  and  we  should  thus  be  altogether  60  miles  on 
our  way  home. 

"  Wednesday,  April  17th.  -18.4°  Fahr.  (-28'  C). 
Yesterday,  without  doubt,  we  did  our  longest  day's 
march.     We  began   at  half-past  seven   in  the   morning. 


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A   HARD   STRUGGLE  179 

and  ended  at  about  nine  at  night,  with  a  couple  of  hours' 
rest  in  the  bag  at  dinner-time.  The  ice  was  what  I 
should  previously  have  called  anything  but  good  ;  it  was 
throughout  extremely  uneven,  with  pressed  -  up,  rather 
new  ice,  and  older,  rounded  -  off  ridges.  There  were 
ridges  here  and  there,  but  progress  was  possible  every- 
where, and  by  lanes,  happily,  we  were  not  hindered.  The 
snow  was  rather  loose  between  all  the  irregularities  of 
the  ice ;  but  the  dogs  hauled  alone  everywhere,  and  there 
is  no  cause  to  complain  of  them.  The  ice  we  are  now 
stopping  in  seems  to  me  to  be  something  like  that  we 
had  around  the  Fram.  We  have  about  got  down  to  the 
region  where  she  is  drifting.  I  am  certain  we  did  20 
miles  yesterday,  and  the  distance  homeward  should  now 
be  altogether  368  miles. 

"  The  weather  is  glorious  nowadays,  not  so  cold  as  to 
inconvenience  one,  and  continual  clear  sunshine,  without 
any  wind  to  signify.  There  is  remarkable  equableness 
and  stagnancy  in  the  atmosphere  up  here,  I  think. 
We  have  travelled  over  this  ice  for  upward  of  a  month 
now,  and  not  once  have  we  been  stopped  on  account  of 
bad  weather — the  same  bright  sunshine  the  whole  time, 
with  the  exception  of  a  couple  of  days,  and  even  then  the 
sun  came  out.  Existence  becomes  more  and  more  en- 
joyable ;  the  cold  is  gone,  and  we  are  pressing  forward 
towards  land  and  summer.  It  is  no  trial  now  to  turn 
out  in  the  mornings,  with  a  good  day's  march  before 
one,  and   cook,  and   lie   snus^   and  warm  in  the  bag  and 


i8o  FARTHEST  NORTH 

dream  of  the  happy  future  when  we  get  home. 
Home .  .  .  ? 

"  Have  been  engacjed  on  an  extensive  sartorial  under- 
taking  to-day;  my  trousers  were  getting  the  worse  for 
wear.  It  seems  quite  mild  now  to  sit  and  sew  in  — 18° 
Fahr.  in  comparison  with  —40°  Fahr.  Then  certainly  it 
was  not  enjoyable  to  ply  one's  needle. 

"  Friday,  April  19th.  We  now  have  provender  for 
the  dogs  for  two  or  three  days  more,  but  I  think  of  sav- 
ins: it  a  little  lonoer  and  having;  the  worst  doQ;s  eaten 
first.  Yesterday  '  Perpetuum  '  was  killed.  This  killing  of 
the  animals,  especially  the  actual  slaughtering,  is  a  horri- 
ble affair.  We  have  hitherto  stuck  them  with  a  knife, 
but  it  was  not  very  satisfactory.  Yesterday,  however, 
we  determined  to  try  a  new  method  —  strangulation. 
According  to  our  usual  custom,  we  led  the  dog  away 
behind  a  hummock,  so  that  the  others  should  not  know 
what  was  going  on.  Then  we  put  a  rope  round  the 
animal's  neck,  and  each  pulled  with  all  his  might,  but 
without  effect,  and  at  last  we  could  do  no  more.  Our 
hands  were  losing  all  sense  of  feeling  in  the  cold,  and 
there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  use  the  knife.  Oh,  it  was 
horrible !  Naturally,  to  shoot  them  would  be  the  most 
convenient  and  merciful  way,  but  we  are  loath  to  expend 
our  precious  ammunition  on  them ;  the  time  may  come 
when  we  shall  need  it  sorely. 

"  The  observations  yesterday  show  that  we  have  got 
down  to  85°  37.8'  N.,  and  the  longitude  should  be  79°  26^ 


^ 


-  ^rS^, 


.  \A   '  V     ^\X 


^.■w^' 


A    HARD    STRUGGLE  183 

E.  This  tallies  well  with  our  reckoning.  We  have  gone 
50  miles  or  so  since  the  last  observation  (April  13th),  just 
what  I  had  assumed  beforehand. 

"  Still  the  same  brilliant  sunshine  day  and  night. 
Yesterday  the  wind  from  the  north  freshened,  and  is  still 
blowing  to-day,  but  does  not  trouble  us  much,  as  it  is  be- 
hind us.  The  temperature,  which  now  keeps  from  about 
4°  to  22°  below  zero  (Fahr.),  can  only  be  described  as 
agreeable.  This  is  undoubtedly  fortunate  for  us ;  if  it 
were  warmer  the  lanes  would  keep  open  a  longer  time. 
My  greatest  desire  now  is  to  get  under  land  before  the 
lanes  become  too  bad.  What  we  shall  do  then  must  be 
decided  by  circumstances. 

"Sunday,  April  21st.  At  4  o'clock  yesterday  we 
got  under  way.  During  the  night  we  stopped  to  have 
something  to  eat.  These  halts  for  dinner,  when  we 
take  our  food  and  crawl  well  down  to  the  bottom  of 
the  bag,  where  it  is  warm  and  comfortable,  are  unusually 
cozy.  After  a  good  nap  we  set  off  again,  but  were 
soon  stopped  by  the  ugliest  lane  we  have  yet  come 
across.  I  set  off  along  it  to  find  a  passage,  but  only 
found  myself  going  through  bad  rubble.  The  lane  was 
everywhere  equally  broad  and  uncompromising,  equally 
full  of  aggregated  blocks  and  brash,  testifying  clearly 
to  the  manner  in  which,  during  a  long  period,  the 
ice  here  has  been  in  motion  and  been  crushed  and 
disintegrated  by  continual  pressure.  This  was  apparent, 
too,  in  numerous  new  ridges  of  rubble  and  hummocky 


1 84  FARTHEST  NORTH 

ice,  and  the  cracks  running  in  all  directions.  I  finally 
found  a  crossing,  but  when,  after  a  long  circuit,  I  had 
conveyed  the  caravan  there,  it  had  changed  in  the  in- 
terval, and  I  did  not  think  it  advisable  to  make  the  at- 
tempt. But  though  I  went  '  farther  than  far,'  as  we 
say,  I  only  found  the  same  abominable  lane,  full  of 
lumps  of  ice,  grinning  at  one,  and  high  pressure-ridgeS 
on  each  side.  Things  were  becoming  worse  and  worse. 
In  several  cases  these  lumps  of  ice  were,  I  noticed,  in- 
termixed with  earthy  matter.  In  one  place  the  whole 
floe,  from  which  blocks  had  been  pressed  up  into  a 
ridge,  was  entirely  dark-brown  in  color,  but  whether  this 
was  from  mud  or  from  organic  matter  I  did  not  get 
near  enough  to  determine.  The  ridges  were  fairly  high 
in  some  places,  and  reached  a  height  of  25  feet  or  so. 
I  had  a  good  opportunity  here  of  observing  how  they 
assume  forms  like  ice  -  mountains  with  high,  straight 
sides,  caused  by  the  splitting  of  old  ridges  transversely 
in  several  directions.  I  have  often  on  this  journey  seen 
massive  high  hummocks  with  similar  square  sides,  and 
of  great  circumference,  sometimes  quite  resembling  snow- 
covered  islands.  They  are  of  '  palaeocrystic  ice,'  as  good 
as  any  one  can  wish.* 

"  I  was  constrained  at  last  to  return  with  my  mission 
unaccomplished.     Nearly  the  most  annoying  thing  about 


*  We  saw  no  real  ice-mountains  at  any  period  of  our  journey  before 
we  got  under  land ;  everything  was  sea-ice.  The  same  was  the  case 
during  the  drift  of  the  Fram. 


A   HARD    STRUGGLE 


185 


it  was  that  on  the  other  side  of  the  lane  I  could  see  fine 
flat  ice  stretchin<>"  southward — and  now  to  be  obliored  to 
camp  here  and  wait !  I  had,  however,  already  possessed 
my  soul  in  patience,  when,  on  coming  back  to  our 
original  stopping-place,  I  found  a  tolerably  good  crossing 
close  by  it.     We  eventually  got  to  the  other  side,  with 


JOHANSEN    CARVING    OUR    NAMES    IN    A    STOCK    OF 
DRIFT-WOOD. 


the  ice  grinding  under  our  feet  the  while,  and  by  that 
time  it  was  6  o'clock  in  the  morning.  We  kept  at  it  a 
little  while  longer  over  beautiful  flat  ice,  but  the  dogs 
were  tired,  and  it  was  nearly  48  hours  since  they  had 
been  fed.  As  we  were  hastening  along  we  suddenly 
came   across   an   immense   piece   of   timber  sticking    up 


1 86  FARTHEST  NORTH 

obliquely  from  the  surface  of  the  ice.  It  was  Siberian 
larch,  as  far  as  I  could  make  out,  and  probably  raised  in 
this  manner  through  pressure  long  ago.  Many  a  good 
meal  could  we  have  cooked  with  it  had  we  been  able  to 
drag  it  with  us,  but  it  was  too  heavy.  We  marked  it 
'F.  N.,  H.  J.,  85°  30'  N.,'  and  went  on  our  way. 

'  Plains  of  ice  still  before  us.  I  am  looking  forward 
to  getting  under  way.  Gliding  over  this  flat  surface  on 
one's  snow-shoes  almost  reaches  the  ideal;  land  and  home 
are  nigher,  and  as  one  goes  along  one's  thoughts  fly 
southward  to  everything  that  is  beautiful.  Six  in  the 
morning,  -22°  Fahr.  (—30°  C). 

"  Monday,  April  2 2d.  If  we  have  made  good  prog- 
ress the  previous  days,  yesterday  simply  outdid  itself. 
I  think  I  may  reckon  our  day's  march  at  25  miles,  but, 
for  the  sake  of  certainty,  lump  the  two  last  days  together 
and  put  them  down  at  40  miles.  The  dogs,  though,  are 
beginning  to  get  tired ;  it  is  approaching  the  time  for  us 
to  camp.  They  are  impatient  for  food,  and,  grown  more 
and  more  greedy  for  fresh  dog's  flesh,  throw  themselves 
on  it  like  wolves  as  soon  as  a  smoking  piece,  with  hair 
and  all  on,  is  thrown  to  them.  '  Kvik  '  and  '  Barnet '  only 
still  keep  back  as  long  as  the  flesh  is  warm,  but  let  it 
become  frozen,  and  they  eat  it  voraciously.  Twelve  mid- 
night, -27.8°  Fahr.  (-33.3°  C). 

"Friday,  April  26th.  --24.7°  Fahr.  (-31.5°  C). 
Minimum  temperature,  —32°  Fahr.  (-35.7°  C).  I  was  not 
a  little  surprised    yesterday   morning   when   I   suddenly 


A    HARD    STRUGGLE  189 

saw  the  track  of  an  animal  in  the  snow.  It  was  that  of  a 
fox,  came  about  \V.  S.  W.  true,  and  went  in  an  easterly 
direction.  The  trail  was  quite  fresh.  What  in  the 
world  was  that  fox  doing  up  here  ?  There  were  also 
unequivocal  signs  that  it  had  not  been  entirely  without 
food.  Were  we  in  the  vicinity  of  land  .f*  Involuntarily 
I  looked  round  for  it,  but  the  weather  was  thick  all  day 
yesterday,  and  we  might  have  been  near  it  without 
seeing  it.  It  is  just  as  probable,  however,  that  this 
fox  was  following  up  some  bear.  In  any  case,  a  warm- 
blooded mammal  in  the  eighty-fifth  parallel  !  We  had 
not  gone  far  when  we  came  across  another  fox-track ; 
it  went  in  about  the  same  direction  as  the  other,  and 
followed  the  trend  of  the  land  which  had  stopped  us, 
and  by  which  we  had  been  obliged  to  camp.  It  is 
incomprehensible  what  these  animals  live  on  up  here,  but 
presumably  they  are  able  to  snap  up  some  crustacean 
in  the  open  waterways.  But  why  do  they  leave  the 
coasts  ?  That  is  what  puzzles  me  most.  Can  they 
have  gone  astray }  There  seems  little  probability  of  that. 
I  am  eager  to  see  if  we  may  not  come  across  the  trail 
of  a  bear  to-day.  It  would  be  quite  a  pleasure,  and  it 
would  seem  as  if  we  were  getting  nearer  inhabited  regions 
again.  I  have  just  pricked  out  our  course  on  the  chart 
according  to  our  bearings,  calculating  that  we  have  gone 
69  miles  in  the  four  days  since  our  last  observation, 
and  I  do  not  think  this  can  be  excessive.  According  to 
this,  it   should    not  be   much    more    than    138   miles    to 


I90  FARTHEST  NORTH 

Petermann's  Land,  provided  it  lie  about  where  Payer 
determined  it.  I  should  have  taken  an  observation 
yesterday,  but  it  was  misty. 

"  At  the  end  of  our  day,  yesterday,  we  went  across 
many  lanes  and  piled -up  ridges;  in  one  of  the  latter, 
which  appeared  to  be  quite  new,  immense  pieces  of 
fresh-water  ice  had  been  pressed  up.  They  were  closely 
intermixed  with  clay  and  gravel,  the  result  of  infiltra- 
tion, so  that  at  a  distance  the  blocks  looked  dark-brown, 
and  might  easily  be  taken  for  stone  ;  in  fact,  I  really 
thought  they  were  stone.  I  can  only  imagine  that  this 
ice  is  river  ice,  probably  from  Siberia.  I  often  saw 
huge  pieces  of  fresh-water  ice  of  this  kind  farther  north, 
and  even  in  latitude  86°  there  was  clay  on  the  ice. 

"  Sunday,  April  28th.  We  made  good  way  yester- 
day, presumably  20  miles.  We  began  our  march  about 
half-past  three  in  the  afternoon  the  day  before  yesterday, 
and  kept  at  it  till  yesterday  morning.  Land  is  drawing 
nigh,  and  the  exciting  time  beginning,  when  we  may 
expect  to  see  something  on  the  horizon.  Oh,  how  I  am 
longing  for  land,  for  something  under  one's  feet  that  is 
not  ice  and  snow;  not  to  speak  of  something  to  rest  one's 
eyes  on.  Another  fox-track  yesterday ;  it  went  in  about 
the  same  direction  as  the  previous  ones.  Later  in  the 
day  '  Gulen  '  gave  in  ;  it  seemed  to  be  a  case  of  complete 
exhaustion,  he  could  hardly  stand  on  his  legs,  reeled  over, 
and  when  we  placed  him  on  one  of  the  loads  he  lay  quite 
still  without  moving.     We  had   already  decided  to  kill 


A    HARD    STRUGGLE  191 

him  that  day.  Poor  beast ;  faithfully  he  worked  for  us, 
good-tempered  and  willing  to  the  end,  and  then,  for  thanks, 
when  he  could  do  no  more,  to  be  killed  for  provender ! 
He  was  born  on  the  Fraui  on  December  13,  1893,  and, 
true  child  of  the  polar  night,  never  saw  aught  but  ice  and 
snow, 

"Monday,  April  29th,  —4°  Fahr.  (—20°  C).  We  had 
not  gone  far  yesterday  when  we  were  stopped  by  open 
water — a  broad  pool  or  lane  which  lay  almost  straight 
across  our  course.  We  worked  westward  alongside  it  for 
some  distance,  until  it  suddenly  began  to  close  violently 
together  at  a  place  where  it  was  comparatively  narrow. 
In  a  few  minutes  the  ice  was  towering  above  us,  and  we 
got  over  by  means  of  the  noisy  pressure-ridge,  which  was 
thundering  and  crashing  under  our  feet.  It  was  a  case 
of  bestirring  ourselves  and  driving  dogs  and  sledges 
quickly  over  if  we  did  not  wish  to  get  jammed  between 
the  rolling  blocks  of  ice.  This  ridge  nearly  swallowed 
up  Johansen's  snow-shoes,  which  had  been  left  behind  for 
a  minute  while  we  got  the  last  sledge  over.  When  at 
last  we  got  to  the  other  side  of  the  lane  the  day  was  far 
spent,  and  such  work  naturally  deserved  reward  in  the 
shape  of  an  extra  ration  of  meat-chocolate. 

"  Annoying  as  it  is  to  be  stopped  in  the  midst  of 
beautiful  fiat  ice  by  a  lane,  when  one  is  longing  to  get  on, 
still,  undeniably,  it  is  a  wonderful  feeling  to  see  open 
water  spread  out  in  front  of  one,  and  the  sun  playing  on 
the  light  ripples  caused  by  the  wind.     Fancy  open  water 


192  FARTHEST  NORTH 


again,  and  glittering  waves,  after  such  a  long  time.  One's 
thoughts  fly  back  to  home  and  summer.  I  scanned  in 
vain  to  see  if  a  seal's  head  were  not  visible  above  the 
surface,  or  a  bear  along  the  side.  The  dogs  are  begin- 
ning now  to  be  very  much  reduced  in  strength  and  are 
difficult  to  urge  on.  '  Barnet '  was  quite  done  (he  was 
killed  this  evening),  and  several  of  the  others  are  very 
jaded.  Even  '  Baro,'  my  best  dog,  is  beginning  to  cool 
in  his  zeal,  to  say  nothing  of  '  Kvik  ' ;  perhaps  I  ought 
to  cater  a  little  more  orenerouslv  for  them.  The  wind 
which  was  about  southeast  in  the  morning  subsequently 
went  over  to  an  easterly  direction,  and  I  expect,  to  use 
Pettersen's  customary  expression  on  board  for  a  good 
southeaster  which  drove  us  northward  to  some  purpose, 
'  a  regular  devil  of  a  hiding.'  I  am  only  surprised  the 
temperature  still  seems  low.  I  had  noticed  a  thick  bank 
of  clouds  for  a  long  time  along  the  horizon  in  the  south 
and  southwest,  and  thought  that  this  must  mean  land. 
It  now  began  to  grow  higher  and  come  nearer  us  in  a 
suspicious  manner.  When,  after  having  had  dinner,  we 
crept  out  of  the  bag,  we  saw  that  the  sky  was  entirely 
clouded  over ;  and  that  the  '  devil  of  a  hiding '  had  come 
we  felt  when  we  went  on. 

"I  saw  another  fox- track  yesterday;  it  was  almost 
effaced  by  the  snow,  but  went  in  about  the  same  di- 
rection as  the  others.  This  is  the  fourth  we  have  come 
acrosS;,  and  seeing  so  many  of  them  make  me  begin  to 
believe  seriously  in  the  proximity  of  land.      Yes,   I  ex- 


A   HARD    STRUGGLE  193 

pect  to  see  it  every  minute ;    perhaps,  though,  it  will  be 
some  days  yet* 

"Tuesday,  April  30th.  -6.7°  Fahr.  (-21.4°  C. ). 
Yesterday,  in  spite  of  everything,  was  a  bad  day.  It  be- 
gan well,  with  brilliant  sunshine ;  was  warm  (4°  below 
zero  Fahr.),  and  there,  bathed  in  the  slumbering  sun- 
light and  allurins:  us  on,  were  stretches  of  beautiful  flat 
ice.  Everything  tended  to  predict  a  good  day's  work ; 
but,  alas,  who  could  see  the  ugly  dark  cracks  which  ran 
right  across  our  course,  and  which  were  destined  to 
make  life  a  burden  to  us.  The  wind  had  packed  the 
snow  well  together,  and  made  the  surface  firm  and 
good,  so  that  we  made  rapid  progress ;  but  we  had  not 
gone  far  before  we  were  stopped  by  a  lane  of  entirely 
open  water  which  stretched  right  across  our  course. 
After  following  it  some  little  distance  we  eventually 
found  a  way  across.!  Not  long  afterwards  we  came 
across  another  lane  running  in  about  the  same  direction. 
After  a  fairly  long  detour  we  got  safely  over  this  too, 
with  the  minor  misfortune  that  three  dogs  fell  into  the 
water.  A  third  lane  we  also  got  over,  but  the  fourth  was 
too  much  for  us  altogether.      It  was  broad,  and  we  fol- 

*  In  point  of  fact  it  was  nearly  three  months  (till  July  24)  before  this 
marvel  happened. 

t  As  on  the  previous  day,  the  ice  on  the  north  side  of  the  lane  was 
moving  westward,  in  comparison  with  that  on  the  south  side.  The  same 
thing  was  the  case,  or  could  be  seen  to  have  been  so,  with  the  lanes 
we  met  with  later  in  the  day.  We  naturally  conceived  this  to  mean  that 
there  was  a  strong  westerly  drift  in  the  ice  northward,  while  that  south- 
ward was  retained  by  land. 
11.-13 


194  FARTHEST  NORTH 

lowed  it  a  long  way  in  a  westerly  direction,  but  without 
finding  a  suitable  crossing.  Then  I  continued  some 
three  or  four  miles  alone  to  scan  the  country,  but  as  I 
could  see  no  chance  of  getting  over,  I  returned  to  Jo- 
hansen  and  the  sledges.  It  is  a  fruitless  task,  this  fol- 
lowing a  lane  running  at  right  angles  to  one's  course. 
Better  to  camp  and  make  one's  self  some  good  pemmi- 
can  soup,  ct  la  Julienne  (it  was  highly  delectable),  and  then 
give  one's  self  up  to  sleep,  in  the  hope  of  better  things 
in  the  future.  Either  the  lanes  will  close  to2:ether  arain 
or  they  will  freeze,  now  that  it  is  tolerably  cold.  The 
weather  is  quiet,  so  it  is  to  be  hoped  new  ones  will  not 
form.*  If  it  keep  like  this  during  the  days  we  require 
to  reach  land,  it  will  be  a  good  thing ;  when  once  we 
are  on  land  as  many  lanes  may  form  as  they  like.  Should 
matters  become  too  bad  before  that  time,  there  is  nothing 
for  us  to  do  but  to  mend  and  patch  our  kayaks.  As  they 
are  now  they  will  not  float.  The  continual  capsizing  of 
the  sledges  has  cut  holes  in  many  places,  and  they  would 
fill  the  instant  they  were  put  on  the  water." 

I  ought  perhaps  to  explain  here  that  I  had  deferred 
mending  the  kayaks  as  long  as  possible.  This  was  partly 
because  the  work  would  take  a  long  time,  and  the  days 
were  precious,  now  that  it  was  a  question  of  gaining 
land  before  the  ice  became  impracticable ;  partly,  too, 
because,  in  the  temperature  we  now  had,  it  would  have 

*  The  lanes  form  most  frequently  in  windy  weather,  as  the  ice  is  then 
set  in  motion. 


A   HARD    STRUGGLE  195 

been  difficult  to  do  the  work  properly ;  and  also  because 
the  chances  were  that  they  would  soon  get  holes  in  them 
again  from  being  upset.  In  addition  to  this  I  was  un- 
desirous  of  crossing  lanes  at  present ;  they  were  still 
covered  with  young  ice,  which  it  would  have  been  difficult 
to  break  through,  even  had  it  been  possible  to  protect  the 
bows  of  the  kayaks  from  being  cut,  by  means  of  a  plate 
of  German  silver  and  some  extra  canvas.  As  I  have 
mentioned  before,  not  the  least  drawback  was  the  fact 
that  any  water  entering  the  kayaks  would  immediately 
have  frozen  and  have  been  impossible  to  remove,  thus  in- 
creasing the  weight  of  our  loads  at  each  crossing.  It  was 
undoubtedly  a  better  plan  to  go  round,  even  if  the  way 
was  long,  than  to  incur  the  hinderances  and  casualties 
that  the  other  alternative  would,  most  probably,  have 
occasioned. 

To  continue  quoting  from  my  diary  for  the  same  day, 
I  write :  "  The  dogs  were  at  one  of  our  precious  pemmi- 
can  grips  last  night;  they  have  torn  off  a  corner  of  the 
bag  and  eaten  some  of  its  contents,  but  happily  not 
much.  We  have  been  fortunate,  inasmuch  as  they  have 
let  the  provisions  alone  hitherto ;  but  now  hunger  is 
becoming  too  much  for  them,  and  nature  is  stronger 
than  discipline. 

"Wednesday,  May  ist.  —12.6°  Fahr.  (—24.8°  C).  I 
'  half-soled'  my  Finn  shoes  to-day  with  sail-cloth,  so  I  hope 
they  will  last  a  while ;  I  feel  as  if  I  could  hold  my  own 
again  now.     I  have  two  pairs  of  Finn  shoes,  so  that  for 


196  FARTHEST  NORTH 

once  one  pair  can  be  dried  in  the  sun.  They  have  been 
wet  the  whole  way,  and  it  has  made  them  the  worse  for 
wear." 

The  ice  was  now  growing  very  bad  again  and  our 
marches  shorter.  On  Friday,  May  3d,  I  write  in  my 
diary :  "  We  did  not  do  so  good  a  day's  work  yesterday 
as  we  expected,  although  we  made  some  progress.  The 
ice  was  flat  and  the  going  good  at  one  time,  and  we  kept 
steadily  at  it  for  four  hours  or  so ;  but  then  came  several 
reaches  with  lanes  and  rubble -ice,  which,  however,  we 
managed  to  pull  through,  though  the  ice  was  often  pack- 
ing under  our  feet.  By  degrees  the  wind  from  the  south- 
east increased,  and  while  we  were  having  dinner  it  veered 
round  to  an  easterly  direction  and  became  rather  strong. 
The  ice,  too,  grew  worse,  with  channels  and  rubble,  and 
when  the  wind  reached  a  velocity  of  29  to  33  feet  in  the 
second,  and  a  driving  snow-storm  set  in,  completely  oblit- 
erating everything  around  us,  stumbling  along  through 
it  all  became  anything  but  attractive.  After  being  de- 
layed several  times  by  newly  formed  rubble,  I  saw  that 
the  only  sensible  thing  to  be  done  was  to  camp,  if  we 
could  find  a  sheltered  spot.  This  was  easier  said  than 
done,  as  the  weather  was  so  thick  we  could  hardly  see 
anything ;  but  at  last  we  found  a  suitable  place,  and,  well 
content  to  be  under  shelter,  ate  our  '  fiskegratin,'  and 
crept  into  the  bag,  while  the  wind  rattled  the  tent  walls 
and  made  drifts  round  us  outside.  We  had  been  con- 
strained to  pitch  our  tent  close  beside  a  new  ridge,  which 


A    HARD    STRUGGLE  197 

was  hardly  desirable,  as  packing  might  take  place,  but 
we  had  no  choice ;  it  was  the  only  lee  to  be  found.  Be- 
fore I  went  to  sleep  the  ice  under  us  began  to  creak,  and 
soon  the  pressure-ridge  behind  us  was  packing  with  the 
well-known  jerks.  I  lay  listening  and  wondering  whether 
it  would  be  better  for  us  to  turn  out  before  the  ice-blocks 
came  tumbling  on  to  us,  but  as  I  lay  listening  went  fast 
asleep  and  dreamed  about  an  earthquake.  When  I  woke 
up  again,  some  hours  afterwards,  everything  was  quiet 
except  the  wind,  which  howled  and  rattled  at  the  tent 
walls,  lashing  the  snow  up  against  them. 

"  Yesterday  evening  '  Potifar '  was  killed.  We  have 
now  sixteen  dogs  left;  the  numbers  are  diminishing  hor- 
ribly, and  it  is  still  so  far  to  land.     If  only  we  were  there ! 

"  Saturday,  May  4th.  Did  fourteen  miles  yesterday ; 
but  the  lanes  become  worse  and  worse.  When  we  got 
under  way  in  the  afternoon — after  having  reloaded  my 
sledge  and  kayak,  and  readjusted  the  dunnage  under 
Johansen  s  kayak — the  wind  had  fallen,  and  it  was  snow- 
ing quietly  and  silently,  with  big  flakes,  just  as  it  does 
on  a  winter  day  at  home.  It  was  bad  in  one  way,  how- 
ever, as  in  such  a  light  it  is  difflcult  to  see  if  the  lay  of 
the  ground  is  against  or  with  us  ;  but  the  going  was  fairly 
good,  and  we  made  progress.  It  was  heavenly  to  work 
in  this  mild  weather,  4- 1 1.8°  Fahr.  (— 11.3°  C),  and  be 
able  to  use  one's  frost-bitten  hands  bare,  without  suffer- 
ing torture  untold  every  time  they  came  in  contact  with 
anything. 


198  FARTHEST  NORTH 

"  Our  life,  however,  was  soon  embittered  by  open 
water-ways.  By  means  of  a  circuitous  route,  and  the 
expenditure  of  much  valuable  time,  we  at  last  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  over  them.  Then  came  long  stretches 
of  good  ice,  and  we  went  cheerfully  on  our  way ;  by- 
and-bye,  too,  the  sun  peeped  out.  It  is  wonderful  what 
such  encouragement  does  for  one.  A  little  while  ago, 
when  I  was  ploughing  alongside  a  horrible  lane,  through 
rubble  and  over  ridges,  without  a  sign  of  any  means  of 
getting  on,  I  was  ready  to  sink  from  exhaustion  at  every 
step;  no  pleasure  then  could  compare  with  that  of  being 
able  to  crawl  into  the  bag ;  and  now,  when  luck  again 
sheds  her  smiles  on  one  and  progress  is  before  one,  all 
weariness  is  suddenly  dissipated. 

"  During  the  night  the  ice  began  to  be  bad  in  earnest, 
lane  after  lane,  the  one  worse  than  the  other,  and  they 
were  only  overcome  by  deviations  and  intricate  by-ways. 
It  was  terrible  work,  and  when  the  wind  increased  to  a 
good  '  mill-breeze '  matters  became  desperate.  This  is  in- 
deed toil  without  ceasing ;  what  would  I  not  give  to  have 
land,  to  have  a  certain  way  before  me,  to  be  able  to 
reckon  on  a  certain  day's  march,  and  be  free  from  this 
never-ending  anxiety  and  uncertainty  about  the  lanes.  No- 
body can  tell  how  much  trouble  they  may  yet  cause  us, 
and  what  adversities  we  may  have  to  go  through  before 
we  reach  land ;  and  meanwhile  the  dogs  are  diminishing 
steadily.  They  haul  all  they  can,  poor  things,  but  what 
good   does  it  do }     I  am   so  tired  that  I  stagger   on  my 


A   HARD    STRUGGLE  199 

snow-shoes,  and  when  I  fall  down  only  wish  to  lie  there 
to  save  myself  the  trouble  of  getting  up  again.  But  every- 
thing changes,  and  we  shall  get  to  land  in  time. 

"  At  five  this  morning  we  came  to  a  broad  lane,  and  as 
it  was  almost  impossible  to  get  the  dogs  on  any  farther, 
we  camped.  Once  well  down  in  the  bag  with  a  pot  of 
savory-smelling  lobscouse  in  front  of  one,  a  feeling  of  well- 
being  is  the  result,  which  neither  lanes  nor  anything  else 
can  disturb. 

"  The  ice  we  have  gone  through  has,  on  the  whole, 
been  flat,  with  the  exception  of  the  newly  formed  lanes 
and  rubble.  These  appear,  however,  for  the  most  part  in 
limited  stretches,  with  extensive  flat  ice  between,  as  yes- 
terday. All  the  channels  seem  in  the  main  to  go  in  the 
same  direction — about  straight  across  our  course,  with  a 
little  deflection  towards  the  southwest.  They  run  about 
northeast  to  west-southwest  (by  compass).  This  morning 
the  temperature  had  again  sunk  to  +0.1°  Fahr.  (—17.8^ 
C),  after  having  been  up  at  +12.2°  Fahr.  (— ii"^  C),  and 
therefore  I  am  still  in  hopes  that  the  water  may  freeze 
within  a  reasonable  time.  Perhaps  it  is  wrong  of  us  to 
curse  this  wind,  for  on  board  the  Fram  they  are  rejoicing 
that  a  southeaster  has  at  last  sprung  up.  However,  in 
spite  of  our  maledictions,  I  am  really  glad  for  their  sake, 
although  I  could  wish  it  deferred  till  we  reach  land. 

"  Wednesday,  May  8th.  The  lanes  still  appear 
regularly  in  certain  places — as  a  rule,  where  the  ice  is 
very  uneven,  and  where  there   are  old  and  new  ridges 


200  FARTHEST  NORTH 

alternately;  between  these  places  there  are  long,  flat 
stretches  of  ice  without  lanes.  These  are  often  perfect- 
ly even,  almost  like  '  inland  ice.'  The  direction  of  the 
lanes  is,  as  before,  very  often  athwart  our  course,  or  a 
little  more  southwesterly.  Others,  again,  seem  to  go  in 
about  the  same  direction  as  we  do.  This  ice  is  extraor- 
dinary; it  seems  to  become  more  and  more  even  as 
we  approach  land,  instead  of  the  contrary,  as  we  expected. 
If  it  would  only  keep  so !  It  is  considerably  flatter  than 
it  was  about  the  Frain,  it  seems  to  me.  There  are  no 
really  impracticable  places,  and  the  irregularities  there 
n-^  are  seen   to  be  of  small  dimensions — rubble-ice,  and  so 

m  forth ;    no  huge   mounds   and   ridges,  as  we  had  farther 

-.  O  north.     Some  of  the   lanes   here   are  narrow,  and  so  far 

^  ^  new  that  the  water  was  only  covered  with  brash.    This  can 

be  deceptive  enough;  it  appears  to  be  even  ice,  but  thrust 
one's  staff  in,  and  it  goes  right  through  and  into  the  water. 
>  "  This  morning;  I  made  out  our  latitude  and  longitude. 

The  former  was  (Sunday,  May  5th)  84°  31'  N.,  and  the 
latter  66°  15^  E.  We  were  not  so  far  south  as  I  expected, 
but  considerably  farther  west.  It  is  the  drift  which  has 
put  us  back  and  westward.  I  shall,  therefore,  for  the 
future,  steer  a  more  southerly  course  than  before,  about 
due  south  (true),  as  we  are  still  drifting  westward,  and, 
above  everything,  I  am  afraid  of  getting  too  far  in  that 
direction.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  we  shall  soon  have 
land  in  sight,  and  we  shall  then  know  where  to  steer. 
We  undoubtedly  ought  to  be  there  now. 


A   HARD   STRUGGLE  201 

"  No  dog  was  killed  yesterday,  as  there  were  two- 
thirds  left  of  'Ulenka'  from  the  previous  day,  which 
provided  an  abundant  repast.  I  now  only  intend  to 
slaughter  one  every  other  day,  and  perhaps  we  shall 
soon  come  across  a  bear. 

"Thursday,  May  9th.  +9°  Fahr.  (-13.3^  C).  Yes- 
terday was  a  fairly  good  day.  The  ice  was  certainly  not 
first-rate,  rather  rubbly,  and  the  going  heavy,  but  all  the 
same  we  are  making  steady  way  forward.  There  were 
long,  flat  stretches  every  now  and  then.  The  weather 
had  become  quite  fine  when  we  got  under  way,  about 
3  o'clock  this  morning.  The  sun  was  shining  through 
light  cumulus  clouds.  It  was  hard  work,  however, 
making  head  against  the  ice,  and  soon  the  fog  came 
down  with  the  wind,  which  still  blew  from  the  same 
direction  (N.N.E.). 

"  The  work  of  hauling  becomes  heavier  and  heavier  for 
the  dogs,  in  proportion  as  their  numbers  diminished.  The 
wooden  runners,  too  (the  under-runners),  do  not  seem  to 
ride  well.  I  have  long  thought  of  taking  them  off,  and 
to-day  really  decided  to  try  the  sledges  without  them. 
In  spite  of  everything  the  dogs  keep  a  very  even  pace, 
with  only  a  halt  now  and  then.  Yesterday  there  were 
only  four  dogs  for  my  sledge.  One  of  them,  '  Flint,' 
slipped  his  harness  and  ran  away,  and  we  did  not  get  hold 
of  him  again  before  the  evening,  when  he  was  killed  by 
way  of  punishment.  The  ice  was  all  along  more  uneven 
than  it  has  been  the  last  few  days.     In  the  afternoon  the 


202  FARTHEST  NORTH 

weather  thickened,  and  the  wind  increased  till,  at  about 
3  o'clock,  a  regular  snow-storm  was  raging.  No  way 
was  to  be  seen,  only  whiteness  everywhere,  except  in 
places  where  the  pointed  blue  ice  from  the  ridges  stuck 
up  through  the  snow-drifts.  After  a  while  the  ice  grew 
worse,  and  I  went  headlong  on  to  ridges  and  irregularities 
without  even  seeing  them.  I  hoped  this  was  only  rough 
ice  which  we  should  pass  through,  but  matters  did  not 
improve,  and  we  thought  there  was  no  sense  in  going  on. 
Luckily  we  had  just  then  dropped  on  a  good  sheltered 
camping-ground ;  otherwise  it  would  have  been  difficult 
enough  to  find  one  in  such  weather,  where  nothing  could 
be  discerned.  Meanwhile  we  are  getting  southward,  and 
are  more  and  more  surprised  at  not  seeing  signs  of  land. 
We  reckon  now  to  have  left  the  eighty-fourth  parallel  be- 
hind us. 

"Friday,  May  loth.  +16.2°  Fahr.  (-8.8°  C).  Our 
life  has  many  difficulties  to  combat.  Yesterday  promised 
to  be  a  good  day,  but  thick  weather  hindered  our  ad- 
vance. When  we  crept  out  of  the  tent  yesterday  fore- 
noon it  was  fine,  the  sun  was  shining,  the  going  was 
unusually  good,  and  the  ice  appeared  to  be  unusually 
even.  We  had  managed  in  the  snow-storm  of  the  pre- 
vious evening  to  get  into  a  belt  of  foul  ice,  which  was 
merely  local.  Before  we  started  we  thought  of  taking 
the  removable  wooden  runners  off  the  sledges,  but  on 
trying  mine  beforehand  found  that  it  ran  well  as  it  was. 
I  decided,  therefore,  to  wait  a  little  longer,  as  I  was  afraid 


A   HARD   STRUGGLE 


203 


that  removing  the  wooden  runners  might  weaken  the 
sledge.  Johansen,  meanwhile,  had  taken  them  off  the 
middle  sledge ;  but  as  we  then  discovered  that  one  of 
the  birch  runners  had  split  right  across  under  one  of 
the  uprights,  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  put  it  on 


\%. 


WE    MADE    FAIRLY    GOOD    PROGRESS 


again.  It  was  a  pity,  though,  as  the  sledge  would  have 
run  much  better  on  the  newly  tarred  runners  than  on  the 
scratched  under-runners.  We  made  fairly  good  progress, 
in  spite  of  there  being  only  13  dogs  left  —  4  to  my 
sledge,  4  to  the  birch  sledge,  and  5  to  Johansen's.  But 
later    in    the    afternoon    the   weather    thickened    rapidly 


204  FARTHEST  NORTH 

and  snow  began  to  fall,  which  prevented  our  seeing 
anything  before  us.  The  ice,  however,  was  fairly  even, 
and  we  kept  going.  We  came  across  a  lane,  but  this 
we  crossed  by  means  of  a  detour.  Not  long  afterwards 
again  we  got  among  a  number  of  abominable  pressure- 
ridges,  and  ran  right  into  high  mounds  and  over  steep 
brinks  without  seeing  them.  Wherever  one  turned 
there  were  sudden  drops  and  pitfalls,  although  every- 
thing looked  so  fair  and  even  under  its  covering  of  still- 
falling  snow\  As  there  seemed  to  be  little  good  in  con- 
tinuing, we  decided  to  camp,  have  our  dinner  of  savory 
hot  lobscouse,  make  out  our  longitude,  and  then  pass 
the  time  until  it  should  clear  again ;  and  if  this  did  not 
take  place  soon,  then  have  a  good  sleep  and  be  ready  to 
get  under  way  as  soon  as  the  weather  should  permit. 
After  having  slept  for  a  couple  of  hours  (it  was  i  o'clock 
in  the  morning),  I  turned  out  of  the  tent  and  was  con- 
fronted with  the  same  thick,  overcast  weather,  with  only 
a  strip  of  clear  blue  sky  down  by  the  horizon  in  the 
southwest,  so  I  let  Johansen  sleep  on  and  reckoned  out 
our  longitude,  which  proved  to  be  64°  20'  E.  We  have 
drifted  considerably  westward  since  I  last  made  it  out,  if 
my  calculations  be  right.  While  I  was  thus  occupied  I 
heard  a  suspicious  gnawing  noise  outside  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  kayaks.  I  listened,  and — quite  right — it  was 
the  dogs  up  in  Johansen's  kayak.  I  ran  out,  caught 
'  Haren,'  who  was  just  lying  gnawing  at  the  portions  of 
fresh  dogs'  flesh  destined  for  to-morrow's   consumption, 


A   HARD    STRUGGLE  20$ 

and  gave  him  a  good  thrashing  for  his  pains.  The 
casing  over  the  opening  in  the  kayak  was  then  properly 
secured,  and  snow-shoes  and  sticks  piled  on. 

"  The  weather  is  still  the  same,  overcast  and  thick ; 
but  the  wind  has  veered  round  to  a  more  southerly  di- 
rection, and  the  clear  strip  of  blue  sky  in  the  southwest 
has  risen  a  little  higher  from  the  ice-margin — can  there 
be  a  west  wind  in  prospect .?  Welcome,  indeed,  would 
it  be,  and  longing  were  the  glances  I  directed  towards 
that  blue  strip — there  lay  sunshine  and  progress ;  per- 
haps even  land  was  beneath  it.  I  could  see  the  cumulus 
clouds  sailing  through  the  blue  atmosphere,  and  thought 
if  only  we  were  there,  only  had  land  under  us,  then  all  our 
troubles  would  sink  into  oblivion.  But  material  needs 
must  not  be  forgotten,  and,  perhaps,  it  would  be  better 
to  get  into  the  bag  and  have  a  good  sleep  while  waiting. 
Many  times  in  the  morning  did  I  peep  out  of  the  tent, 
but  always  saw  the  same  cloudy  sky  and  the  same  white 
prospect  wherever  the  eye  turned.  Down  in  the  west 
and  southwest  was  always  the  same  strip  of  clear  blue 
sky,  only  that  now  it  was  lower  again.  When  we  at 
last  turned  out  in  the  forenoon  the  weather  was  just  the 
same,  and  the  azure  strip  on  the  horizon  in  the  south- 
west was  still  there.  I  think  it  must  have  somethinor  to 
do  with  land,  and  it  gives  me  hope  that  this  may  not  be 
so  far  off.  It  is  a  tougher  job  than  we  thought,  this 
gaining  land,  but  we  have  had  many  enemies  to  make 
headway  against — not  only  foul   ice  and  bad  going,  but 


2o6  FAR  THE  S  2'  NORTH 

also  wind,  water,  and  thick  weather — all  of  them  equally 
obdurate  adversaries  to  overcome. 

"  Sunday,  May  12th.  +0.6°  Fahr.  (—17.5°  C).  Yes- 
terday we  had  a  better  time  than  we  expected.  Over- 
cast and  thick  it  was  the  whole  time,  and  we  felt  our 
way  rather  than  saw  it.  The  ice  was  not  particularly 
good  either,  but  we  pressed  onward,  and  had  the  satis- 
faction now  and  then  of  travelling  over  several  long 
stretches  of  flat  ice.  A  couple  of  channels  which  had 
partly  opened  hindered  us  somewhat.  Curiously  enough 
the  strip  of  clear  sky  was  still  there  in  the  S.S.W.  (true), 
and  as  we  went  along  rose  higher  in  the  heavens.  We 
kept  expecting  it  to  spread,  and  that  the  weather  would 
clear ;  we  needed  it  sorely  to  find  our  way ;  but  the  strip 
never  rose  any  higher,  and  yet  remained  there  equally 
clear.  Then  it  sank  again,  and  only  a  small  rim  was 
left  visible  on  the  margin  of  the  sky.  Then  this  also 
disappeared.  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  this  strip  must 
have  had  something  to  do  with  land.  At  7  o'clock  this 
morning  we  came  to  a  belt  of  ice  as  bad,  almost,  as  I  have 
ever  seen  it,  and  as  I  thought  it  unadvisable  to  make  an 
onslaught  in  such  thick  weather,  we  encamped.  I  hope 
we  did  our  14  miles,  and  can  reckon  on  only  90  more  to 
land,  if  it  lie  in  83°  latitude.  The  ice  is  undoubtedly  of 
a  different  character  from  what  it  was  previously:  it  is 
less  even,  and  old  lanes  and  new  ones,  with  ridges  and 
rubble,  are  more  frequent — all  seeming  to  point  to  the 
vicinity  of  land. 


A    HARD    STRUGGLE  207 


"  Meanwhile  time  is  going,  and  tlie  number  of  dogs 
diminishing.  We  have  now  1 2  left ;  yesterday  '  Katta ' 
was  killed.  And  our  provisions  are  also  gradually  on 
the  decrease,  though,  thank  Heaven,  we  have  a  good 
deal  remaining.  The  first  tin  of  petroleum  (2^  gallons) 
came  to  an  end  three  days  ago,  and  we  shall  soon  have 
finished  our  second  sack  of  bread.  We  do  nothing  but 
scan  the  horizon  longingly  for  land,  but  see  nothing,  even 
when  I  climb  up  on  to  the  highest  hummocks  with  the 
telescope. 

"Monday,  May  13th.  +8.6°  Fahr.  (-13°  C.) ;  mini- 
mum +  6.6°  Fahr.  (—14.2°  C).  This  is,  indeed,  a  toilsome 
existence.  The  number  of  the  dogs,  and  likewise  their 
hauling  powers,  diminish  by  degrees,  and  they  are  inert 
and  difficult  to  urge  on.  The  ice  grows  worse  and 
worse  as  we  approach  land,  and  is,  besides,  covered  with 
much  deeper  and  looser  snow  than  before.  It  is  par- 
ticularly difficult  to  get  on  in  the  broken-up  ice,  w^iere 
the  snow,  although  it  covers  up  many  irregularities,  at 
the  same  time  lets  one  sink  through  almost  up  to  one's 
thighs  between  the  pieces  of  ice  as  soon  as  one  takes 
one's  snow-shoes  off  to  help  the  sledge.  It  is  extremely 
tiring  and  shaky  on  this  sort  of  surface  to  use  one's  snow- 
shoes  not  firmly  secured  to  the  feet,  but  one  cannot  have 
them  properly  fastened  on  when  one  has  to  help  the  dogs 
at  any  moment  or  pull  and  tug  at  these  eternal  sledges. 
I  think  in  snow  such  as  this  Indian  snow-shoes  would  be 
preferable,   and    I    only  wish    I   had    some.     Meanwhile, 


2o8  FARTHEST  NORTH 

however,  we  covered  some  ground  yesterday,  and  if  I 
reckon  20  miles  for  yesterday  and  to-day  together  I  do 
not  think  I  shall  be  very  far  out.  We  should  thus  have 
only  about  50  miles  to  the  83d  parallel  and  the  land 
which  Payer  determined.  We  are  keeping  a  somewhat 
southerly  course,  about  due  south  (true),  as  this  continual 
east  wind  is  certainly  driving  us  westward,  and  I  do  not 
like  the  idea  of  drifting  west  past  land.  It  is  beginning 
to  be  tolerably  warm  inside  the  bag  at  night  now,  and 
last  night  I  could  hardly  sleep  for  heat. 

"Tuesday,  May  14th.  +6.8°  Fahr.  (-14°  C).  Yes- 
terday was  a  cozy  day  of  rest.  Just  as  we  were  about 
to  get  under  way  after  breakfast  it  clouded  over,  and  a 
dense  snow-storm  set  in,  so  that  to  start  out  in  such 
weather,  in  the  uneven  ice  we  have  now  before  us,  would 
not  have  been  worth  while.  I  therefore  riiade  up  my 
mind  to  halt  for  the  time  being  and  get  some  trifles 
done,  and  in  particular  the  shifting  of  the  load  from  the 
birch  sledge  on  to  the  two  others,  and  so  at  last  get  rid 
of  this  third  sledge,  for  which  we  can  no  longer  spare 
any  dogs.  This  took  some  time  ;  and  as  it  was  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  do  it,  we  lost  nothing  by  stopping  for 
a  day. 

"  We  had  now  so  much  wood  from  the  sledge,  to- 
gether with  broken  snow-shoe  staves  and  the  results  of 
other  casualties,  that  I  thought  we  should  be  able  to  use 
it  as  fuel  for  some  time  to  come,  and  so  save  the  petro- 
leum.    We   accordingly   made  a  fire  of  it  to  cook  the 


A    HARD   STRUGGLE  209 

supper  with,  contrived   a  cooking  -  pot  out  of  the  empty 

petroleum  tin,  and  hung  it  over  in  the  approved  fashion. 

At  the  first  start-off  we  lighted  the  fire  just  outside  the 

tent  door,  but  soon  gave  that  up,  as,  for  the  first  thing,  we 

nearly  burned  up  the  tent,  and,  secondly,  the  smoke  came 

in   till   we   could   hardly  see  out    of  our   eyes.      But   it 

warmed  well  and  looked  wonderfully  cheerful.     Then  we 

moved  it  farther  off,  where  it  could  neither  burn  up  the 

tent  nor  smoke  us  out;   but  therewith  all  the  joy  of  it 

was  departed.     When  we  had  about  burned  up  the  whole 

sledge  and  succeeded  in  getting  a  pot   of  boiling  water, 

with  the  further  result  of  having  nearly  melted  the  floe 

through  on  which  we  were  living,  I  gave  up  the  idea  of 

cooking  with  sledges  and  went  back  to  our  trusty  friend, 

the  '  Primus  ' — and  a  sociable  and  entertaining  friend,  too, 

which  one  can  have  by  one's  side  as  one  lies  in  the  bag. 

We  have  as   much   petroleum,  I   should   imagine,  as  we 

shall  require  for  the  journey  before   us,  and  why  bother 

about  anything  else  ?      If  the  petroleum  should  come  to 

an  end  too  soon,  why,  then  we  can  get  as  much  train-oil 

from  bear  and  seal  and  walrus  as  we  shall  require.     I  am 

very  anxious   to   see   the  result   of  our   reloading.     Our 

two  kayak  sledges  have  undoubtedly  become  somewhat 

heavier,  but  then  we  shall  have  six  dogs  to  each  as  long 

as  they  last.     Our  patience   has   been   rewarded   at  last 

with  the  most  brilliant  sunshine  and  sparkling  sky.     It  is 

so  warm  in  the  tent  that  I  am  lying  basking  in  the  heat. 

One  might  almost  think  one's  self  under  an  awning  on  a 
II.— 14 


210  FARTHEST  NORTH 

summer's  day  at  home.     Last  night  it  was  almost  too 
warm  to  sleep." 

The  ice  kept  practicable  to  a  certain  extent  during 
these  days,  though  the  lanes  provided  us  with  many  an 
obstacle  to  overcome.  Then,  in  addition  to  this,  the  dogs' 
strength  was  failing,  they  were  ready  to  stop  at  the 
slightest  unevenness,  and  we  did  not  make  much  way. 
On  Thursday,  May  i6th,  I  write  in  my  diary:  "Several 
of  the  dogs  seem  to  be  much  exhausted.  '  Baro '  (the 
leader  of  my  team)  gave  in  yesterday.  He  could  hardly 
move  at  last,  and  was  slaughtered  for  supper.  Poor 
animal.     He  hauled  faithfully  to  the  end. 

"  It  was  Johansen's  birthday  yesterday  ;  he  completed 
"his  twenty-eighth  year,  and  of  course  a  feast  was  held 
in  honor  of  the  occasion.  It  consisted  of  lobscouse,  his 
favorite  dish,  followed  by  some  good  hot  lime-juice  grog. 
The  midday  sun  made  it  warm  and  comfortable  in  the 
tent.     6  A.M.,  +3.6°  Fahr.  (-15.8"  C). 

"  Have  to  -  day  calculated  our  latitude  and  longitude 
for  yesterday,  and  find  it  was  'i'^  36'  N.  and  59""  55' 
E.  Our  latitude  agrees  exactly  with  what  I  supposed, 
according  to  the  dead  reckoning,  but  our  longitude  is 
almost  alarmingly  westerly,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  our 
course  has  been  the  whole  time  somewhat  southerly. 
There  appears  to  be  a  strong  drift  in  the  ice  here,  and  it 
will  be  better  for  us  to  keep  east  of  the  south,  in  order 
not  to  drift  past  land.  To  be  quite  certain,  I  have  again 
reckoned  out  our  observations  of  April  7th  and  8th,  but 


A    HARD    STRUGGLE  21 1 

find  no  error,  and  cannot  think  otherwise  than  that  we 
are  about  right.  Still  it  seems  remarkable  that  we  have 
not  yet  seen  any  signs  of  land.  lo  p.m.,  +1.4°  Fahr. 
(-17°  C). 

"  Friday,  May  17th.  +12.4°  Fahr.  (-10.9°  C);  mini- 
mum, —  19°  C.  To-day  is  the  'Seventeenth  of  May' — 
Constitution-day.  I  felt  quite  certain  that  by  to-day,  at 
any  rate,  we  should  have  been  on  land  somewhere  or 
other,  but  fate  wills  otherwise ;  we  have  not  even  seen  a 
sign  of  it  yet.  Alas!  here  I  lie  in  the  bag,  dreaming  day- 
dreams and  thinking  of  all  the  rejoicings  at  home,  of  the 
children's  processions  and  the  undulating  mass  of  people 
at  this  moment  in  the  streets.  How  welcome  a  sight  to 
see  the  flags,  with  their  red  bunting,  waving  in  the  blue 
spring  atmosphere,  and  the  sun  shining  through  the 
delicate  young  green  of  the  leaves.  And  here  we  are  in 
drifting  ice,  not  knowing  exactly  where  we  are,  uncertain 
as  to  our  distance  from  an  unknown  land,  where  we  hope 
to  find  means  of  sustaining  life  and  thence  carve  our  way 
on  towards  home,  with  two  teams  of  dogs  whose  numbers 
and  strength  diminish  day  by  day,  with  ice  and  water 
between  us  and  our  goal  which  may  cause  us  untold 
trouble,  with  sledges  which  now,  at  any  rate,  are  too  heavy 
for  our  own  powers.  We  press  laboriously  onward  mile 
by  mile ;  and  meanwhile,  perhaps,  the  drift  of  the  ice  is 
carrying  us  westward  out  to  sea,  beyond  the  land  we  are 
striving  for.  A  toilsome  life,  undeniably,  but  there  will 
be  an  end  to  it  some  time ;  some  time  we  shall  reach  it. 


212  FARTHEST  NORTH 

and  meanwhile  our  flag  for  the  '  Seventeenth  of  May ' 
shall  wave  above  the  eighty-third  parallel,  and  if  fate 
send  us  the  first  sight  of  land  to-day  our  joy  will  be  two- 
fold. 

"  Yesterday  was  a  hard  day.  The  weather  was  fine, 
even  brilliant,  the  going  splendid,  and  the  ice  good,  so 
that  one  had  a  right  to  expect  progress  were  it  not  for 
the  dogs.  They  pull  up  at  everything,  and  for  the  man 
ahead  it  is  a  continual  going  over  the  same  ground  three 
times :  first  to  find  a  way  and  make  a  track,  and  then 
back  again  to  drive  on  the  dogs ;  it  is  slow  work  indeed. 
Across  quite  flat  ice  the  dogs  keep  up  to  the  mark 
pretty  well,  but  at  the  first  difliculty  they  stop.  I  tried 
harnessing  myself  in  front  of  them  yesterday,  and  it 
answered  pretty  well;  but  when  it  came  to  finding  the 
way  in  foul  ice  it  had  to  be  abandoned. 

"  In  spite  of  everything,  we  are  pushing  forward, 
and  eventually  shall  have  our  reward ;  but  for  the  time 
being  this  would  be  ample  could  we  only  reach  land 
and  land-ice  without  these  execrable  lanes.  Yesterday 
we  had  four  of  them.  The  first  that  stopped  us  did 
not  cause  immoderate  trouble ;  then  we  went  over  a 
short  bit  of  middling  ice,  though,  with  lane  after  lane 
and  ridges.  Then  came  another  bad  lane,  necessitat- 
ing a  circuit.  After  this  we  traversed  some  fairly 
good  ice,  this  time  considerably  more  of  it  than 
previously,  but  soon  came  to  a  lane,  or  rather  a  pool, 
of    orreater   size    than    we    had    ever   seen    before  —  ex- 


A   HARD   STRUGGLE  213 

actly  what  the  Russians  would  call  a  '  polynja.'  It 
was  covered  with  young  ice,  too  weak  to  bear.  We 
started  confidently  alongside  it  in  a  southwesterly 
direction  (true),  in  the  belief  that  we  should  soon  find 
a  way  across;  but  'soon'  did  not  come.  Just  where 
we  expected  to  find  a  crossing,  an  overwhelming  sight 
presented  itself  to  our  gaze ;  the  pool  stretched  away 
in  a  southwesterly  direction  to  the  very  horizon,  and 
we  could  see  no  end  to  it !  In  the  mirage  on  the 
horizon,  a  couple  of  detached  blocks  of  ice  rose  above 
the  level  of  the  pool ;  they  appeared  to  be  floating  in 
open  water,  changed  constantly  in  shape,  and  disappeared 
and  reappeared.  Everything  seemed  to  indicate  that 
the  pool  debouched  right  into  the  sea  in  the  west. 
From  the  top  of  a  high  hummock  I  could,  however, 
with  the  glass,  see  ice  on  the  other  side,  heightened 
by  the  looming.  But  it  was  anything  but  certain  that 
it  really  was  situated  at  the  western  end  of  the  pool ; 
more  probably,  it  indicated  a  curve  in  the  direction  of 
the  latter.  What  was  to  be  done  here }  To  set  over 
seemed  for  the  moment  an  impossibility.  The  ice 
was  too  thin  to  bear  and  too  thick  to  set  the  kayaks 
through,  even  if  we  should  mend  them.  How  long 
it  might  take  at  this  time  of  year  for  the  ice  to 
become  strong  enough  to  bear,  I  did  not  know,  but 
one  day  would  scarcely  do  it.  To  settle  down  and  wait, 
therefore,  seemed  too  much.  How  far  the  pool 
extended    and    how    long    we    might    have    to    travel 


214  FARTHEST  NORTH 

along  it  before  we  found  a  crossing  and  could  again 
keep  to  our  course  no  one  could  tell ;  but  the 
probability  was  a  long  time  —  perhaps  days.  On  the 
other  hand,  to  retreat  in  the  direction  whence  we  came 
seemed  an  unattractive  alternative ;  it  would  lead  us 
away  from  our  goal,  and  also  perhaps  necessitate  a  long 
journey  in  an  opposite  direction  before  we  could  find  a 
crossing.  The  pool  extended  true  S.  50°  W.  To  follow 
it  would  undoubtedly  take  us  out  of  our  course,  which 
ought  now  properly  to  be  east  of  south ;  but  on  the 
whole  this  direction  was  nearest  the  line  of  our  advance, 
and  consequently  we  decided  to  try  it.  After  a  short 
time  we  came  to  a  new  lane  running  in  a  transverse  di- 
rection to  the  pool.  Here  the  ice  was  strong  enough  to 
bear,  and  on  examining  the  ice  on  the  pool  itself  beyond 
the  confluence  of  this  lane  I  found  a  belt  where  the 
young  ice  had,  through  pressure,  been  jammed  up  in 
several  layers.  This  happily  was  strong  enough  to  bear, 
and  we  got  safely  over  the  pool,  the  trend  of  which  we 
had  been  prepared  to  follow  for  days.  Then  on  we  went 
again,  though  in  toil  and  tribulation,  until  at  half -past 
eioht  in  the  eveninq-  we  aoain  found  ourselves  con- 
fronted  by  a  pool  or  lane  of  exactly  the  same  description 
as  the-  former  one,  with  the  exception  only  that  this  time 
the  view  to  the  '  sea  '  opened  towards  the  northeast,  while 
in  the  southwest  the  sky-line  was  closed  in  by  ice.  The 
lane  also  was  covered  with  young  ice,  which  in  the  mid- 
dle was  obviously  of  the   same  age  as  that  on  the   last 


A    HARD   STRUGGLE  215 

pool.  Near  the  edge  there  was  some  thicker  and  older 
ice,  which  would  bear,  and  over  which  I  went  on  snow- 
shoes  to  look  for  a  crossing,  but  found  none  as  far  as  I 
went.  The  strip  of  ice  along  the  middle,  sometimes 
broad  and  sometimes  narrow,  was  everywhere  too  thin  to 
risk  taking  the  sledges  over.  We  consequently  decided 
to  camp  and  wait  till  to-day,  when  it  is  to  be  hoped  the 
ice  will  be  strong  enough  to  bear.  And  here  we  are 
still  with  the  same  lane  in  front  of  us.  Heaven  only 
knows  what  surprises  the  day  will  bring. 

"Sunday,  May  19th.  The  surprise  which  the  Seven- 
teenth brought  us  was  nothing  less  than  that  we  found 
the  lanes  about  here  full  of  narwhals.  When  we  had 
just  got  under  way,  and  were  about  to  cross  over  the 
lane  we  had  been  stopped  by  the  previous  day,  I  became 
aware  of  a  breathing  noise,  just  like  the  blowing  of 
whales.  I  thought  at  first  it  must  be  from  the  dogs, 
but  then  I  heard  for  certain  that  the  sound  came  from 
the  lane.  I  listened.  Johansen  had  heard  the  noise 
the  whole  morning,  he  said,  but  thought  it  was  only  ice 
jamming  in  the  distance.  No,  that  sound  I  knew  well 
enough,  I  thought,  and  looked  over  towards  an  opening  in 
the  ice  whence  I  thought  it  proceeded.  Suddenly  I  saw  a 
movement  which  could  hardly  be  falling  ice,  and — quite 
right  —  up  came  the  head  of  a  whale ;  then  came  the 
body;  it  executed  the  well-known  curve,  and  disappeared. 
Then  up  came  another,  accompanied  by  the  same  sound. 
There   was   a  whole   school    of   them.      I    shouted    that 


2i6  FARTHEST  NORTH 

they  were  whales,  and,  running  to  the  sledge,  had  my 
gun  out  in  a  second.  Then  came  the  adjusting  of  a 
harpoon,  and  after  a  little  work  this  was  accomplished, 
and  I  was  ready  to  start  in  pursuit.  Meanwhile  the 
animals  had  disappeared  from  the  opening  in  the  ice 
where  I  had  first  seen  them,  though  I  heard  their 
breathing  from  some  openings  farther  east.  I  followed 
the  lane  in  that  direction,  but  did  not  come  within 
range,  although  I  got  rather  near  them  once  or  twice. 
They  came  up  in  comparatively  small  openings  in  the 
ice,  which  were  to  be  found  along  the  whole  length 
of  the  lane.  There  was  every  prospect  of  being  able 
to  get  a  shot  at  them  if  we  stopped  for  a  day  to  watch 
the  holes ;  but  we  had  no  time  to  spare,  and  could  not 
have  taken  much  with  us  had  we  got  one,  as  the  sledges 
were  heavy  enough  already.  We  soon  found  a  passage 
over,  and  continued  our  journey  with  the  flags  hoisted 
on  the  sledges  in  honor  of  the  day.  As  we  were  going 
so  slowly  now  that  it  was  hardly  possible  for  things  to 
be  worse,  I  determined  at  our  dinner-hour  that  I  really 
would  take  off  the  under-runners  from  my  sledge.  The 
change  was  unmistakable ;  it  was  not  like  the  same 
sledge.  Henceforth  we  got  on  well,  and  after  a  while 
the  under-runners  from  Johansen's  sledge  were  also  re- 
moved. As  we  furthermore  came  on  some  good  ice 
later  in  the  day,  our  progress  was  quite  unexpectedly 
good,  and  when  we  stopped  at  half-past  eleven  yesterday 
morning,  I  should  think  we  had  gone   lo  miles   during 


A    HARD   STRUGGLE  217 

our  day's  march.  This  brings  us  down  to  latitude 
'^'^  20'  or  so. 

"  At  last,  then,  we  have  come  down  to  latitudes  which 
have  been  reached  by  human  beings  before  us,  and  it 
cannot  possibly  be  far  to  land.  A  little  while  before  we 
halted  yesterday  we  crossed  a  lane  or  pool  exactly  like 
the  two  previous  ones,  only  broader  still.  Here,  too,  I 
heard  the  blowing  of  whales,  but  although  I  was  not  far 
from  the  hole  whence  the  noise  presumably  came,  and 
although  the  opening  there  was  quite  small,  I  could  per- 
ceive nothing.  Johansen,  w^io  came  afterwards  with  the 
dogs,  said  that  as  soon  as  they  reached  the  frozen  lane 
they  got  scent  of  something  and  wanted  to  go  against 
the  wind.  Curious  that  there  should  be  so  many  nar- 
whals in  the  lanes  here. 

"  The  ice  we  are  now  travelling  over  is  surprisingly 
bad.  There  are  few  or  no  new  ridges,  only  small  older 
irregularities,  with  now  and  then  deep  snow  in  between, 
and  then  these  curious  broad,  endless  lanes,  which  re- 
semble each  other,  and  run  exactly  parallel,  and  are  all 
unlike  those  we  have  met  before.  They  are  remark- 
able from  the  fact  that,  while  formerly  I  always  observed 
the  ice  on  the  north  side  of  the  lane  to  drift  westward, 
in  comparison  with  that  which  lay  on  the  south  side,  the 
reverse  was  here  the  case.  It  was  the  ice  on  the  south 
side  which  drifted  westward. 

"  As  I  am  afraid  that  we  are  continually  drifting  rap- 
idly westward,  I  have  kept  a  somewhat  easterly  course — 


2i8  FARTHEST  NORTH 

S.S.E.  or  east  of  that,  according  as  the  drift  necessitates. 
We  kept  the  Seventeenth  of  May — on  the  i8th,  it  is  true 
— by  a  feast  of  unsurpassed  magnificence,  consisting  of 
lobscouse,  stewed  red  whortleberries  mixed  with  vril-food, 
and  stamina  lime-juice  mead  {i.e.,  a  concoction  of  lime- 
juice  tablets  and  Frame  Food  stamina  tablets  dissolved 
in  water),  and  then,  having  eaten  our  fill,  crawled  into 
our  bag." 

As  we  gradually  made  our  way  southward  the  ice  be- 
came more  impracticable  and  difficult  to  travel  over.  We 
still  came  across  occasional  good  flat  plains,  but  they  were 
often  broken  up  by  broad  belts  of  jammed-up  ice,  and  in 
a  measure  by  channels,  which  hindered  our  advance.  On 
May  19th  I  write:  "I  climbed  to  the  top  of  the  highest 
hummock  I  have  yet  been  up.  I  measured  it  roughly, 
and  made  it  out  to  be  about  24  feet  above  the  ice  whence 
I  had  climbed  up ;  but,  as  this  latter  was  considerably 
above  the  surface  of  the  water,  the  height  was  probably 
30  feet  or  so.  It  formed  the  crest  of  quite  a  short  and 
crooked  pressure-ridge,  consisting  of  only  small  pieces  of 
ice. 

That  day  we  came  across  the  first  tracks  of  bears 
which  we  had  seen  on  our  journey  over  the  ice.  The 
certainty  that  we  had  got  down  to  regions  where  these 
animals  are  to  be  found,  and  the  prospect  of  a  ham,  made 
us  very  joyous.  On  May  20th  there  was  a  tremendous 
snow-storm,  through  which  it  was  impossible  to  see  our 
w^ay  on  the  uneven  ice.     "  Consequently  there  is  nothing 


A   HARD   STRUGGLE  219 

for  it  but  to  creep  under  the  cover  again  and  sleep  as 
long  as  one  can.  Hunger  at  last,  though,  is  too  much 
for  us,  and  I  turn  out  to  make  a  stew  of  delicious  liver 
'  pate.'  Then  a  cup  of  whey  drink,  and  into  the  bag 
again,  to  write  or  slumber  as  we  list.  Here  we  are,  with 
nothing  to  do  but  to  wait  till  the  weather  changes  and 
we  can  go  on. 

"  We  can  hardly  be  far  from  83°  10'  N.,  and  should 
have  gained  Petermann's  Land  if  it  be  where  Payer 
supposed.  Either  we  must  be  unconscionably  out  of  our 
bearings,  or  the  country  very  small.  Meanwhile,  I  sup- 
pose, this  east  wind  is  driving  us  westward,  out  to  sea, 
in  the  direction  of  Spitzbergen.  Heaven  alone  knows 
what  the  velocity  of  the  drift  may  be  here.  Oh,  well,  I 
am  not  in  the  least  downhearted.  We  still  have  10  does, 
and  should  we  drift  past  Cape  Fligely,  there  is  land 
enough  west  of  us,  and  that  we  can  hardly  mistake. 
Starve  we  scarcely  can ;  and  if  the  worst  should  come  to 
the  worst,  and  we  have  to  make  up  our  minds  to  winter 
up  here,  we  can  face  that  too — if  only  there  was  nobody 
waiting  at  home.  But  we  shall  get  back  before  the 
winter.  The  barometer  is  falling  steadily,  so  that  it 
will  be  a  case  of  patience  long  drawn  out,  but  we  shall 
manage  all  right." 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  following  day  (May  21st) 
we  were  at  last  able  to  get  off,  though  the  weather  was 
still  thick  and  snowy,  and  we  often  staggered  along  like 
blind  men.     "  As  the  wind  was  strong  and  right  at  our 


220  FARTHEST  NORTH 

back,  and  as  the  ice  was  fairly  even,  I  at  last  put  a  sail 
to  my  sledge.  It  almost  went  by  itself,  but  did  not  in 
the  least  change  the  dogs'  pace ;  they  kept  the  same  slow 
time  as  before.  Poor  beasts,  they  become  more  and 
more  tired,  and  the  going  is  heavy  and  loose.  We 
passed  over  many  newly  frozen  pools  that  day,  and  some 
time  previously  there  must  have  been  a  remarkable 
quantity  of  open  water. 

"  I  do  not  think  I  exceed  when  I  put  down  our  day's 
march  at  14  miles,  and  we  ought  to  have  latitude  '^'^  be- 
hind us,  but  as  yet  no  sign  of  land.  This  is  becoming 
rather  exciting. 

"Friday,  May  24th.  +18.8°  Fahr.  (-7.4°  C).  Mini- 
mum —  11.4°  C.  Yesterday  was  the  worst  day  we  have 
yet  had.  The  lane  we  had  before  us  when  we  stopped 
the  previous  day  proved  to  be  worse  than  any  of  the 
others  had  been.  After  breakfast  at  i  a.m.,  and  while 
Johansen  was  engaged  in  patching  the  tent,  I  trudged 
off  to  look  for  a  passage  across,  but  was  away  for  three 
hours  without  finding  any.  There  was  nothing  for  it 
but  to  follow  the  bend  of  the  lane  eastward  and  trust  to 
getting  over  eventually,  but  it  turned  out  to  be  a  longer 
job  than  we  had  anticipated.  When  we  came  to  the 
place  where  it  appeared  to  end,  the  surrounding  ice-mass 
was  broken  up  in  all  directions,  and  the  floes  were  grind- 
ing against  each  other  as  they  tore  along.  There  was  no 
safe  passage  across  to  be  found  anywhere.  Where  at 
one  moment,  perhaps,  I  might  have  crossed  over,  at  the 


A    HARD    STRUGGLE  221 

next,  when  I  had  brought  the  sledges  up,  there  was  only 
open  water.  Meanwhile  we  executed  some  intricate 
manoeuvring  from  floe  to  floe,  always  farther  east,  in 
order  to  get  round.  The  ice  jammed  under  and  around 
us,  and  it  was  often  a  difficult  matter  to  get  through. 
Often  did  we  think  we  were  well  across,  when  still  worse 
lanes  and  cracks  in  front  of  us  met  our  disappointed 
gaze.     It  was  enough  sometimes  to  make  one  despair. 

"  There  seemed  to  be  no  end  to  it ;  wherever  one 
turned  were  yawning  channels.  On  the  overcast  sky 
the  dark,  threatening  reflection  of  water  was  to  be  seen 
in  all  directions.  It  really  seemed  as  if  the  ice  was 
entirely  broken  up.  Hungry  and  almost  tired  to  death 
we  were,  but  determined,  if  possible,  to  have  our  troubles 
behind  us  before  we  stopped  for  dinner.  But  at  last 
matters  came  to  a  hopeless  pitch,  and  at  i  o'clock,  after 
nine  hours'  work,  we  decided  to  have  a  meal.  It  is  a 
remarkable  fact  that,  let  things  be  as  bad  as  they  may, 
once  in  the  bag,  and  with  food  in  prospect,  all  one's 
troubles  sink  into  oblivion.  The  human  being  becomes 
a  happy  animal,  which  eats  as  long  as  it  can  keep  its  eyes 
open,  and  goes  to  sleep  with  the  food  in  its  mouth.  Oh, 
blissful  state  of  heedlessness !  But  at  4  o'clock  we  had  to 
turn  to  again  at  the  apparently  hopeless  task  of  threading 
the  maze  of  lanes.  As  a  last  drop  in  our  cup  of  misery 
the  weather  became  so  thick  and  shadowless  that  one 
literally  could  not  see  if  one  were  walking  up  against  a 
wall  of  ice  or  plunging  into  a  pit.     Alas,  we  have  only 


222  FARTHEST  NORTH 

too  much  of  this  mist !  How  many  lanes  and  cracks  we 
went  across,  how  many  huge  ridges  we  clambered  over, 
dragging  the  heavy  sledges  after  us,  I  cannot  say,  but 
very  many.  They  twisted  and  turned  in  all  directions, 
and  water  and  slush  met  us  everywhere. 

"  But  everything  comes  to  an  end,  and  so  did  this. 
After  another  two-and-a-half  hours'  severe  exertion  we 
had  put  the  last  lane  behind  us,  and  before  us  lay  a 
lovely  plain.  Altogether  we  had  now  been  at  this  sort 
of  work  for  nearly  twelve  hours,  and  I  had,  in  addition, 
followed  the  lane  for  three  hours  in  the  morning,  which 
made  fifteen  altogether.  We  v/ere  thoroughly  done, 
and  wet  too.  How  many  times  we  had  gone  through  the 
deceptive  crust  of  snow  which  hides  the  water  between 
the  pieces  of  ice  it  is  impossible  to  say.  Once  during 
the  morning  I  had  had  a  narrow  escape.  I  was  going 
confidently  along  on  snow-shoes  over  what  I  supposed 
to  be  solid  ice  when  suddenly  the  ground  began  to  sink 
beneath  me.  Happily  there  were  some  pieces  of  ice  not 
far  off  on  which  I  succeeded  in  throwing  myself,  while 
the  water  washed  over  the  snow  I  had  just  been 
standing  on.  I  might  have  had  a  long  swim  for  it 
through  the  slush,  which  would  have  been  anything  but 
pleasant,  particularly  seeing  that  I  was  alone. 

"  At  last  we  had  level  ice  before  us ;  but,  alas  !  our 
happiness  was  destined  to  be  short-lived.  From  the 
dark  belt  of  clouds  on  the  sky  we  saw  that  a  new 
channel  was  in  prospect,  and  at  eight  in  the  evening  we 


A   HARD   STRUGGLE  223 

had  reached  it.  I  was  too  tired  to  follow  the  trend  of 
the  lane  (it  was  not  short)  in  order  to  find  a  crossing, 
particularly  as  another  channel  was  visible  behind  it.  It 
was  also  impossible  to  see  the  ice  around  one  in  the 
heavily  falling  snow.  It  was  only  a  question,  therefore, 
of  finding  a  camping-place,  but  this  was  easier  said  than 
done.  A  strong  north  wind  was  blowing,  and  no  shelter 
was  to  be  found  from  it  on  the  level  ice  we  had  just 
got  on  to.  Every  mound  and  irregularity  was  examined 
as  we  passed  by  it  in  the  snow-storm,  but  all  were  too 
small.  We  had  to  content  ourselves  at  last  with  a  lit- 
tle pressed-up  hummock,  which  we  could  just  get  under 
the  lee  of.  Then,  again,  there  was  too  little  snow,  and 
only  after  considerable  work  did  we  succeed  in  pitching 
the  tent.  At  last,  however,  the  '  Primus '  was  singing 
cheerily  inside  it,  the  '  fiskegratin  '  diffusing  its  savory 
odor,  and  two  happy  beings  w^ere  ensconced  comfortably 
inside  the  bag,  enjoying  existence  and  satisfied,  if  not, 
indeed,  at  having  done  a  good  day's  march,  yet  in  the 
knowledge  of  having  overcome  a  difficulty. 

"  While  we  were  having  breakfast  to-day  I  went  out 
and  took  a  meridian  altitude,  which,  to  our  delight,  made 
us  82°  52'  N. 

"  Sunday,  May  26th.  When  the  ice  is  as  uneven  as  it  is 
now,  the  difficulty  of  making  headway  is  incredible.  The 
snow  is  loose,  and  if  one  takes  one's  snow-shoes  off  for  a 
moment  one  sinks  in  above  one's  knees.  It  is  impossible 
to  fasten  them  on  securely,  as  every  minute   one   must 


224  FARTHEST  NORTH 

help  the  dogs  with  the  sledges.  Added  to  this,  if  the 
weather  be  thick,  as  yesterday,  one  is  apt  to  run  into  the 
largest  ridges  or  snow-drifts  without  seeing  them  ;  every- 
thing is  equally  white  under  its  covering  of  new  snow, 
and  the  light  comes  from  all  directions,  so  that  it  throws 
no  shadows.  Then  one  plunges  in  headlong,  and  with 
difficulty  can  get  up  and  on  to  one's  snow-shoes  again. 
This  takes  place  continually,  and  the  longer  it  lasts  the 
worse  it  gets.  At  last  one  literally  staggers  on  one's 
snow-shoes  from  fatigue,  just  as  if  one  were  drunk.  But 
we  are  gaining  ground,  and  that  is  the  chief  thing,  be 
one's  shins  ever  so  bruised  and  tender.  This  manner 
of  progress  is  particularly  injurious  to  the  ankles,  on 
account  of  the  constant  unsteadiness  and  swerving  of 
the  snow-shoes,  and  many  a  day  have  mine  been  much 
swollen.  The  dogs,  too,  are  becoming  exhausted,  which 
is  worse. 

"  I  have  to-day  reckoned  out  the  observations  made 
yesterday,  and  find,  to  our  joy,  that  the  longitude  is  6i° 
27'  E.,  so  that  we  have  not  drifted  westward,  but  have 
come  about  south,  according  to  our  course.  My  con- 
stant fear  of  drifting  past  land  is  thus  unfounded,  and 
we  should  be  able  to  reckon  on  reaching  it  before  very 
long.  We  may  possibly  be  farther  east  than  we  suppose, 
but  hardly  farther  west,  so  that  if  we  now  go  due  south 
for  a  while,  and  then  southwest,  we  must  meet  with  land, 
and  this  within  not  many  days.  I  reckon  that  we  did  20 
miles  southward  yesterday,  and  should  thus   be   now  in 


A   HARD   STRUGGLE  225 

latitude  82°  40'  N.  A  couple  more  days,  and  our  lati- 
tude will  be  very  satisfactory. 

"  The  ice  we  have  before  us  looks  practicable,  but, 
to  judge  by  the  sky,  we  have  a  number  of  water-ways  a 
little  farther  on ;  we  must  manage  somehow  to  fight  our 
way  across  them.  I  should  be  very  reluctant  to  mend 
the  kayaks  just  now,  before  we  have  reached  land  and 
firm  land  ice.  They  require  a  thorough  overhauling, 
both  as  to  frames  and  covers.  My  one  thought  now  is 
to  get  on  while  we  still  have  some  dogs,  and  thus  use 
them  up. 

"  A  comfortable  Sunday  morning  in  the  tent  to-day. 
These  observations  put  me  in  good  spirits;  life  seems  to 
look  brieht  before  us.  Soon  we  must  be  able  to  start 
homeward  at  good  speed  and  across  open  water.  Oh, 
what  a  pleasure  it  will  be  to  handle  paddle  and  gun 
again,  instead  of  this  continual  toil  with  the  sledges! 
Then,  too,  the  shouting  to  the  dogs  to  go  on — it  seems 
to  wear  and  tear  one's  ears  and  every  nerve  in  one's 
body. 

"  Monday,  May  27th.     Ever  since  yesterday  morning 

we  have  seen  the  looming  of  water  on  the  sky ;  it  is  the 

same  looming  that  we  saw  on  the  previous  day,  and  I  set 

our  course  direct  for  the  place  where,  to  judge  by  it,  there 

should  be  the  greatest  accumulation  of  ice,  and  where, 

consequently,  a  crossing  should  be  easiest.     During  the 

course  of  the   afternoon  we  came  on  one  lane  after  the 

other,  just   as  the  water -sky   had   denoted,  and   towards 
11.-15 


226  FARTHEST  NORTH 

evening  the  dark  heavens  before  us  augured  open  water 
of  a  worse  kind.  The  reflection  was  particularly  dark  and 
threatening,  both  in  the  west  and  in  the  east.  By  7 
o'clock  I  could  see  a  broad  lane  before  us,  stretching 
away  west  and  east  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach  from  the 
highest  hummock.  It  was  broad,  and  appeared  to  be 
more  impracticable  than  any  of  the  previous  ones.  As 
the  dogs  were  tired,  our  day's  march  had  been  a  good 
one,  and  we  had  a  splendid  camping-place  ready  to  hand, 
we  decided  to  pitch  the  tent.  Well  satisfied  and  certain 
that  we  were  now  in  latitude  82^°,  and  that  land  must 
inevitably  be  near,  we  disappeared  into  the  bag. 

"  During^  breakfast  this  morninor  I  went  out  and  took 
a  meridian  altitude.  It  proves  that  we  have  not  deceived 
ourselves.  We  are  in  latitude  82°  30'  N.,  perhaps  even 
a  minute  or  two  farther  south.  But  it  is  growing  more 
and  more  remarkable  that  we  see  no  sign  of  land.  I  can- 
not explain  it  in  any  other  way  than  that  we  are  some 
degrees  farther  east  than  we  suppose.*  That  we  should 
be  so  much  farther  west  as  to  enable  us  to  pass  entirely 
clear  of  Petermann's  Land  and  Oscar's  Land,  and  not  so 
much  as  get  a  glimpse  of  them,  I  consider  an  impossi- 
bility. I  have  again  looked  at  our  former  observations ; 
have  again  gone  through  our  dead  reckoning,  the  velocity 


*  In  point  of  fact,  we  were  then  about  6°  farther  east  than  we  thought. 
I  had  on  April  14th,  it  will  be  remembered  (compare  my  notes  for  that 
day),  surmised  that  the  longitude  I  then  set  down  (86"  E.)  was  more  west- 
erly than  that  we  were  actually  in. 


A   HARD   STRUGGLE  227 

and  directions  of  the  wind,  and  all  the  possibilities  of 
drift  during  the  days  which  passed  between  our  last  cer- 
tain observation  for  longitude  (April  8th)  and  the  day 
when,  according  to  the  dead  reckoning,  we  assumed  our- 
selves to  be  in  longitude  86°  E.  (April  13th).  That  there 
should  be  any  great  mistake  is  inconceivable.  The  ice 
can  hardly  have  had  such  a  considerable  drift  during  those 
particular  days,  seeing  that  our  dead  reckoning  in  other 
respects  tallied  so  well  with  the  observations. 

'•  Yesterday  evening  '  Kvik  '  was  slaughtered.  Poor 
thing,  she  was  quite  worn  out,  and  did  little  or  nothing 
in  the  hauling  line.  I  was  sorry  to  part  with  her,  but 
what  was  to  be  done  }  Even  if  we  should  get  fresh  meat, 
it  would  have  taken  some  time  to  feed  her  up  again,  and 
then,  perhaps,  we  should  have  had  no  use  for  her,  and 
should  only  have  had  to  kill  her,  after  all.  But  a  fine  big 
animal  she  was,  and  provided  food  for  three  days  for  our 
remaining  eight  dogs. 

"  I  am  in  a  continual  state  of  w^onderment  at  the  ice 
we  are  now  travelling  over.  It  is  flat  and  good,  with 
only  smallish  pieces  of  broken-up  ice  lying  about,  and  a 
large  mound  or  small  ridge  here  and  there,  but  all  of  it 
is  ice  which  can  hardly  be  winter-old,  or  at  any  rate  has 
been  formed  since  last  summer.  It  is  quite  a  rarity  to 
come  across  a  small  tract  of  older  ice,  or  even  a  single 
old  floe  which  has  lain  the  summer  through — so  rare,  in 
fact,  that  at  our  last  camping-place  it  was  impossible  to 
find  any  ice  which  had  been  exposed  to  the  summer  sun, 


228  FARTHEST  NORTH 

and  consequently  freed  from  salt.  We  were  obliged  to 
be  content  with  snow  for  our  drinking-water.*  Certain 
it  is  that  where  these  great  expanses  of  flat  ice  come 
from  there  was  open  water  last  summer  or  autumn,  and 
that  of  no  little  extent,  as  we  have  passed  over  many 
miles  of  this  compact  ice  the  whole  day  yesterday  and 
a  good  part  of  the  previous  day,  besides  which  there 
were  formerly  a  considerable  number  of  such  tracts  in 
between  older,  summer-old  ice.  There  is  little  proba- 
bility that  this  should  have  been  formed  in  the  vicinity 
hereabouts.  More  probably  it  has  come  from  farther 
east  or  southeast,  and  was  formed  in  open  water  on  the 
east  side  of  Wilczek's  Land.  I  believe,  consequently, 
that  this  must  indicate  that  there  can  be  not  a  little 
open  water  along  the  east  or  northeast  coast  of  Wilczek's 
Land  iji  the  summer  or  antttmn  months.^ 

*  For  melting  water  in  the  cooker  it  is  better  to  use  ice  than  snow, 
particularly  if  the  latter  be  not  old  and  granular.  Newly  fallen  snow  gives 
little  water,  and  requires  considerably  more  heat  to  warm  it.  That  part 
of  salt-water  ice  which  is  above  the  surface  of  the  sea,  and,  in  particular, 
prominent  pieces  which  have  been  exposed  to  the  rays  of  the  sun  during 
a  summer  and  are  thus  freed  from  the  greater  part  of  their  salt,  furnish 
excellent  drinking-water.  Some  expeditions  have  harbored  the  supersti- 
tion that  drinking-water  from  ice  in  which  there  was  the  least  salt  was 
injurious.  This  is  a  mistake  which  cost,  for  instance,  the  members  of 
Xhe,  Jca?meiie  expedition  much  unnecessary  trouble,  as  they  thought  it  im- 
perative to  distil  the  water  before  they  could  drink  it  without  incurring 
the  risk  of  scurvy. 

t  As  will  be  understood  by  our  later  discoveries,  my  surmises  were  not 
quite  correct.  We  really  were  at  that  time  north  or  northeast  of  Wilc- 
zek's Land,  which  seems  to  be  only  a  little  island.  Meanwhile  there  must 
have  been  extensive  open  water  the  previous  autumn  where  this  ice  was 
formed.     But  when  it  is  shown  later  how  much  open  water  we  saw  on  the 


A   HARD   STRUGGLE  229 

"  Now  followed  a  time  when  the  lanes  grew  worse 
than  ever,  and  we  began  to  toil  in  grim  earnest.  Lanes 
and  cracks  went  crosswise  in  every  direction.  The  ice 
was  sometimes  uneven,  and  the  surface  loose  and  heavy 
between  the  irregularities. 

"  If  one  could  get  a  bird's-eye  view  of  this  ice,  the 
lanes  would  form  a  veritable  net-work  of  irregular  meshes. 
Woe  to  him  who  lets  himself  get  entangled  in  it ! 

"  Wednesday,  May  29th.  Yesterday  I  inaugurated  a 
great  change,  and  began  with  '  komager.'  It  was  an 
agreeable  transition.  One  s  feet  keep  nice  and  dry  now, 
and  one  is  furthermore  saved  the  trouble  of  attending 
to  the  Finn  shoes*  night  and  morning.  They  were  be- 
ginning in  this  mild  temperature  to  assume  a  texture 
like  our  native  '  lefser,'  a  kind  of  tough  rye-cake.  Then, 
too,  one  need  no  longer  sleep  with  wet  rags  on  one's 
chest  and  legs  to  dry  them." 

That  day  we  saw  our  first  bird ;  a  fulmar  {Procellaria 
glacialis). 

"  Thursday,  May  30th.  At  5  o'clock  yesterday  morn- 
ing we  set  forth  with  the  buoyancy  born  of  the  belief 
that  now  at  last  the  whole  network  of  lanes  was  behind 
us ;  but  we  had  not  gone  far  before  the  reflection  of  new 

northwest  coast  of  Franz  Josef  Land  even  in  winter,  this  can  easily  be  im- 
agined. 

*  Whereas  Finn  shoes  are  made  of  reindeer-skin  with  the  hair  on, 
"  komager"  are  made  of  under-tanned  hide  without  hair,  generally  from 
the  ox  or  bearded  seal  {Phoca  barbata),  with  tops  of  reindeer-skin.  They 
are  strong  and  water-proof.     (See  description  of  equipment.) 


230  FARTHEST  NORTH 

channels  appeared  in  front.  I  climbed  up  on  to  a  hum- 
mock as  quickly  as  possible,  but  the  sight  which  met  my 
eyes  was  anything  but  enlivening  —  lane  after  lane,  cross- 
ing and  recrossing,  in  front  of  us  and  on  each  side,  as  far 
as  the  eye  could  reach.  It  looked  as  if  it  mattered  little 
what  direction  we  chose :  it  would  be  of  no  avail  in  get- 
ting out  of  the  maze.  I  made  a  long  excursion  on  ahead 
to  see  if  there  might  not  be  a  way  of  slipping  through 
and  over  on  the  consecutive  flat  sheets  as  we  had  done 
before ;  but  the  ice  appeared  to  be  broken  up,  and  so  it 
probably  is  all  the  way  to  land.  It  was  no  longer  with 
the  compact,  massive  polar  ice  that  we  had  to  deal,  but 
with  thin,  broken-up  pack-ice,  at  the  mercy  of  every  wind 
of  heaven,  and  we  had  to  reconcile  ourselves  to  the  idea 
of  scrambling  from  floe  to  floe  as  best  we  might.  What 
would  I  not  have  given  at  this  moment  for  it  to  be  March, 
with  all  its  cold  and  sufferings,  instead  of  the  end  of  May, 
and  the  thermometer  almost  above  32°  Fahr.?  It  was  just 
this  end  of  May  I  had  feared  all  along,  the  time  at  which 
I  considered  it  of  the  greatest  importance  to  have  gained 
land.  Unhappily  my  fears  proved  to  be  well  founded.  I 
almost  began  to  wish  that  it  was  a  month  or  more  later ; 
the  ice  would  then  perhaps  be  slacker  here,  with  more 
open  pools  and  lanes,  so  that  in  a  measure  one  could 
make  one's  way  in  a  kayak.  Well,  who  could  tell  t 
This  miserable  thin  young  ice  appeared  to  be  utterly 
treacherous,  and  there  was  a  water-sky  in  every  direction, 
but  mostly  far,  far  ahead.     If  only  we  w^ere  there  !  if  only 


A    HARD   STRUGGLE  231 

we  were  under  land !  Perhaps,  if  the  worst  should  come 
to  the  worst,  we  may  be  reduced  to  waiting  till  over  the 
time  when  the  mild  weather  and  break-up  of  the  ice  come 
in  earnest.  But  have  we  provisions  enough  to  wait  till  that 
time?  This  was,  indeed,  more  than  doubtful.  ...  As 
I  stood  sunk  in  these  gloomy  reflections  on  the  high 
hummock,  and  looking  southward  over  the  ice,  seeing 
ridee  after  rid2:e  and  lane  after  lane  before  me,  I  sud- 
denly  heard  the  well-known  sound  of  a  whale  blowing 
from  a  lead  close  behind.  It  was  the  solution  of  my 
troubles.  Starve  we  should  not ;  there  are  animals  here, 
and  we  have  guns,  thank  Heaven,  and  harpoons  as  well, 
and  we  know  how  to  use  them.  There  was  a  whole 
school  of  narwhals  in  the  lane  breathing  and  blowing 
ceaselessly.  As  some  high  ice  hid  them  from  view  for  a 
great  part,  I  could  only  see  their  gray  backs,  now  and 
then,  as  they  arched  themselves  over  the  black  surface 
of  the  water.  I  stood  a  long  while  looking  at  them,  and 
had  I  had  my  gun  and  harpoon,  it  would  have  been  an 
easy  matter  to  get  one.  After  all,  the  prospect  was  not 
so  bad  at  present ;  and  meanwhile  what  we  had  to  do 
was  not  to  mind  lanes,  but  to  keep  on  our  course 
S.W.  or  S.W.  to  S.  over  them,  and  push  on  the  best 
we  could.  And  with  that  resolution  I  returned  to  the 
sledges.  Neither  of  us,  however,  had  a  very  firm  belief 
that  we  should  get  much  farther,  and  therefore  all  the 
more  elated  did  we  become  as  our  advance  proved  by  de- 
grees to  be  tolerably  easy,  in  spite  of  our  exhausted  dogs. 


232  FARTHEST  NORTH 

"  While  we  were  making  our  way  during  the  morning 
between  some  lanes  I  suddenly  saw  a  black  object  come 
rushing  through  the  air;  it  was  a  black  guillemot  {Uria 
grylle),  and  it  circled  round  us  several  times.  Not  long 
afterwards  I  heard  a  curious  noise  in  a  southwesterly 
direction — something  like  the  sound  made  by  a  goat's 
horn  when  blown  on ;  I  heard  it  many  times,  and 
Johansen  also  remarked  it,  but  I  could  not  make  out 
what  it  was.  An  animal,  at  all  events,  it  must  be,  as 
human  beings  are  hardly  likely  to  be  near  us  here.*  A 
little  while  later  a  fulmar  came  sailing  towards  us,  and  flew 
round  and  round  just  over  our  heads.  I  got  out  my  gun, 
but  before  I  had  a  cartridge  in  the  bird  had  gone  again. 
It  is  beginning  to  grow  lively  here  ;  it  is  cheering  to  see 
so  much  life,  and  gives  one  the  feeling  that  one  is  ap- 
proaching land  and  kindlier  regions.  Later  on  I  saw  a 
seal  on  the  ice ;  it  was  a  little  ringed  seal,  which  it  would 
have  been  a  satisfaction  to  capture  ;  but  before  I  had  quite 
made  out  which  it  was  it  had  disappeared  into  the  water. 

"At  lo  o'clock  we  had  dinner,  which  we  shall  no 
longer  eat  in  the  bag,  in  order  to  save  time.  We  have 
also  decided  to  shorten  our  marches  to  eight  hours  or  so 
in  the  day  on  account  of  the  dogs.  At  1 1  o'clock,  after 
dinner,  we  started  off  again,  and  at  three  stopped  and 
camped.  I  should  imagine  we  went  7  miles  yesterday, 
or  let  me  say  between    12  and    15  during  the   last   two 

*  It  was  undoubtedly  from  seals,  which  often  utter  a  sound  like  a 
protracted  "  ho !" 


A    HARD    STRUGGLE  233 

days,  the  direction  being  about  southwest — every  httle 
counts. 

"  In  front  of  us  on  the  horizon  we  have  a  water-sky,  or 
at  any  rate  a  reflection  which  is  so  sharply  defined  and 
remains  so  immovable  that  it  must  either  be  over  open 
water  or  dark  land  ;  our  course  just  bears  on  it.  It  is  a 
good  way  off,  and  the  water  it  is  over  can  hardly  be  of 
small  extent ;  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  it  must  be 
under  land.  May  it  be  so !  But  between  us,  to  judge  by 
the  sky,  there  seems  to  be  plenty  of  lanes. 

"  The  ice  is  still  the  same  nowadays,  barely  of  the 
previous  winter's  formation,  where  it  is  impossible  to  find 
any  suitable  for  cooking.  It  seems  to  me  that  it  is  here, 
if  possible,  thinner  than  ever,  with  a  thickness  of  from  2 
to  3  feet.  The  reason  of  this  I  am  still  at  a  loss  to  ex- 
plain. 

"Friday,  May  31st.  It  is  wonderful;  the  last  day  of 
May — this  month  gone  too  without  our  reaching  land, 
without  even  seeing  it.  June  cannot  surely  pass  in  the 
same  manner — it  is  impossible  that  we  can  have  far  to 
go  now.  I  think  everything  seems  to  indicate  this. 
The  ice  becomes  thinner  and  thinner,  we  see  more  and 
more  life  around  us,  and  in  front  is  the  same  reflection  of 
water  or  land,  whichever  it  may  be.  Yesterday  I  saw 
two  ringed  seals  {Phoca  foetida)  in  two  small  lanes ;  a 
bird,  probably  a  fulmar,  flew  over  a  lane  here  yesterday 
evening,  and  at  midday  yesterday  we  came  on  the  fresh 
tracks  of  a  bear  and  two  small  cubs,  which  had  followed 


234  FARTHEST  NORTH 

the  side  of  a  lane.  There  seemed  to  be  prospects  of  fresh 
food  in  such  surroundings,  though,  curiously  enough, 
neither  of  us  has  any  particular  craving  for  it ;  we  are 
quite  satisfied  with  the  food  we  have ;  but  for  the  dogs  it 
would  be  of  great  importance.  We  had  to  kill  again  last 
night;  this  time  it  was  'Pan,'  our  best  dog.  It  could 
not  be  helped ;  he  was  quite  worn  out,  and  could  not  do 
much  more.  The  seven  dogs  we  have  left  can  now  live 
three  days  on  the  food  he  provided. 

"This  is  quite  unexpected:  the  ice  is  very  much  broken 
lip  here — mere  pack-ice,  were  it  not  for  some  large  floes  or 
flat  spaces  in  between.  If  this  ice  had  time  to  slacken  it 
would  be  easy  enough  to  row  between  the  floes.  Some- 
times when  we  were  stopped  by  lanes  yesterday,  and  I 
went  up  on  to  some  high  hummock  to  look  ahead,  my 
heart  sank  within  me,  and  I  thought  we  should  be 
constrained  to  give  up  the  hope  of  getting  farther;  it 
was  looking  out  over  a  very  chaos  of  lumps  of  ice  and 
brash  mixed  together  in  open  water.  To  jump  from 
piece  to  piece  in  such  waters,  with  dogs  and  two  heavy 
sledges  following  one,  is  not  exactly  easy ;  but  by  means 
of  investigation  and  experiment  we  managed  eventually 
to  get  over  this  lane  too,  and  after  going  through  rubble 
for  a  while  came  on  to  flat  ice  again ;  and  thus  it  kept  on 
with  new  lanes  repeatedly. 

"  The  ice  we  are  now  travelling  over  is  almost  entirely 
new  ice  with  occasional  older  floes  in  between.  It  con- 
tinues to  grow  thinner,  here   it   is   for  the   greater  part 


A   HARD   STRUGGLE  235 

not  more  than  3  feet  in  thickness,  and  the  floes  are  as 
flat  as  when  they  were  frozen.  Yesterday  evening,  how- 
ever, we  got  on  to  a  stretch  of  old  ice,  on  which  we  are 
stationed  now,  but  how  far  it  extends  it  is  difflcult  to  say. 
We  camped  yesterday  at  half-past  six  in  the  evening  and 
found  fresh  ice  again  for  the  cooker,  which  was  distinctly 
a  pleasant  change  for  the  cook.  We  have  not  had  it 
since  May  25th.*  A  disagreeable  wind  from  the  south, 
it  is  true,  has  sprung  up  this  evening,  and  it  will  be  hard 
work  going  against  it.  We  have  a  great  deal  of  bad 
weather  here  ;  it  is  overcast  nearly  every  day,  with  wind — 
south  wind,  which,  above  everything,  is  least  desirable  just 
now.  But  what  are  we  to  do  .f*  To  settle  down  we  have 
hardly  provender  enough;  there  is  nothing  for  it,  I  sup- 
pose, but  to  grind  on. 

"  Took  a  meridian  altitude  to-day,  and  we  should  be 
in  82°  21'  N.,  and  still  no  glimpse  of  land;  this  is  becom- 
ing more  and  more  of  an  enigma.  What  would  I  not 
give  to  set  my  foot  on  dry  land  now  1  But  patience — 
always  patience." 

*  It  was  from  about  82°  52'  N.  south  to  82°  19'  N.  that  we  travelled 
over  young  ice  of  this  description;  that  is  to  say,  there  must  have  been 
open  water  over  a  distance  of  fully  32  English  geographical  miles  (33'  of 
latitude).  We  also  found  ice  of  this  kind  farther  south  for  a  long  dis- 
tance, and  the  open  sea  must  have  been  considerably  greater. 


CHAPTER  VI 


BY    SLEDGE    AND    KAYAK 


"Saturday,  June  ist.  So  this  is  June,  What  has  it 
in  store  for  us?  Will  not  this  month,  either,  bring  us  the 
land  we  are  longing  for?  Must  hope  and  believe  so, 
thouoh  the  time  is  drawinQ^  out.  Luck,  for  the  matter  of 
that,  is  a  wonderful  thing.  I  expected  this  morning  as 
little  of  the  day  as  was  well  possible ;  the  weather  was 
thick  and  snowy,  and  we  had  a  strong  contrary  wind.  It 
was  no  better  when  we  came  on  a  lane  directly  after  we 
started,  which  appeared  to  be  nearly  impassable ;  every- 
thing was  dark  and  dull.  However,  the  day  turned  out 
to  be  better  than  we  expected.  By  means  of  a  detour 
to  the  northeast  I  found  a  passage  across  the  lane,  and 
we  got  on  to  long,  flat  plains  which  we  went  over  until 
quite  midday.  And  from  five  this  afternoon  we  had 
another  hour  and  a  half  of  good  ice,  but  that  was  the 
end  of  it ;  a  lane  which  ran  in  several  directions  cut  off 
every  means  of  advance,  and  although  I  spent  more 
than  an  hour  and  a  half  in  lookins:  for  a  crossing;,  none 
was  to  be  found.  There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  camp, 
and  hope  that  the  morrow  would  bring  an  improvement. 


BY  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  237 

Now  the  morrow  has  come,  but  whether  the  improve- 
ment has  come  likewise,  and  the  lane  has  closed  more  to- 
gether, I  do  not  yet  know.  We  camped  about  nine  yester- 
day evening.  As  usual  latterly,  after  nearly  a  whole  day  of 
dismal  snow,  it  suddenly  cleared  up  as  soon  as  we  began 
to  pitch  the  tent.  The  wind  also  went  down,  and  the 
weather  became  beautiful,  with  blue  sky  and  light  white 
clouds,  so  that  one  might  almost  dream  one's  self  far  away 
to  summer  at  home.  The  horizon  in  the  west  and  south- 
west was  clear  enough,  but  nothing  to  be  seen  except  the 
same  water-sky,  which  we  have  been  steering  for,  and, 
happily,  it  is  obviously  higher,  so  we  are  getting  under  it. 
If  only  we  had  reached  it !  Yonder  there  must  be  a 
change ;  that  I  have  no  doubt  of.  How  I  long  for  that 
change ! 

"  Curious  how  different  things  are.  If  we  only  reach 
land  before  our  provisions  give  out  we  shall  think  our- 
selves well  out  of  danger,  while  to  Payer  it  stood  for 
certain  starvation  if  he  should  have  to  remain  there  and 
not  find  Tegethoff  2.%2\.\-\.  But  then  he  had  not  been 
roamin^i  about  in  the  drift-ice  between  8  3°  and  86°  for  two 


» 


months  and  a  half  without  seeing  a  living  creature.  Just 
as  were  going  to  break  up  camp  yesterday  morning  we 
suddenly  heard  the  angry  cry  of  an  ivory  gull ;  there, 
above  us,  beautiful  and  white,  were  two  of  them  sailing 
right  over  our  heads.  I  thought  of  shooting  them,  but  it 
seemed,  on  the  whole,  hardly  worth  while  to  expend  a 
cartridge  apiece  on  such  birds;    they  disappeared  again, 


238  FARTHEST  NORTH 

too,  directly.  A  little  while  afterwards  we  heard  them 
again.  As  we  were  lying  in  the  bag  to-day  and  waiting 
for  breakfast  we  suddenly  heard  a  hoarse  scream  over 
the  tent  —  something  like  the  croaking  of  a  crow.  I 
should  imagine  it  must  have  been  a  gull  {Lams  argen- 
tatMs  ?). 

"  Is  it  not  curious  ?  The  whole  night  long,  whenever 
I  was  awake,  did  the  sun  smile  in  to  us  through  our 
silken  walls,  and  it  was  so  warm  and  light  that  I  lay  and 
dreamed  dreams  of  summer,  far  from  lanes  and  drudgery 
and  endless  toil.  How  fair  life  seems  at  such  moments, 
and  how  bright  the  future  !  But  no  sooner  do  I  turn  out 
to  cook  at  half-past  nine  than  the  sun  veils  his  counte- 
nance and  snow  begins  to  fall.  This  happens  nearly  every 
day  now.  Is  it  because  he  will  have  us  settle  down  here 
and  wait,  for  the  summer  and  the  slackening  of  the  ice 
and  open  water  will  spare  us  the  toil  of  finding  a  way 
over  this  hopeless  maze  of  lanes.?  I  am  loath,  indeed, 
that  this  should  come  to  pass.  Even  if  we  could  manage, 
as  far  as  provisions  are  concerned,  by  killing  and  eating 
the  dogs,  and  with  a  chance  of  game  in  prospect,  our 
arrival  in  Spitzbergen  would  be  late,  and  we  might  not 
improbably  have  to  pass  the  winter  there,  and  then  those 
at  home  would  have  another  year  to  wait. 

"  Sunday,  June  2d.  So  it  is  on  Whitsunday  that  this 
book*  finishes.     I  could  hardly  have  imagined  that  we 

*  It  was  the  first  diary  I  used  on  the  sledge  journey. 


BY  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  239 

should  still  be  in  the  drift-ice  without  seeing  land ;  but 
Fate  wills  otherwise,  and  she  knows  no  mercy. 

"  The  lane  which  stopped  us  yesterday  did  not  close, 
but  opened  wider  until  there  was  a  big  sea  to  the  west  of 
us,  and  we  were  living  on  a  floe  in  the  midst  of  it  with- 
out a  passage  across  anywhere.  So,  at  last,  what  we 
have  so  often  been  threatened  with  has  come  to  pass: 
we  must  set  to  work  and  make  our  kayaks  seaworthy. 
But  first  of  all  we  moved  the  tent  into  a  sheltered  nook 
of  the  hummock,  where  we  are  lying  to,  so  that  the  wind 
does  not  reach  us,  and  we  can  imagine  it  is  quite  still 
outside,  instead  of  a  regular  '  mill-breeze '  blowing  from 
the  southwest.  To  rip  off  the  cover  of  my  kayak  and 
get  it  into  the  tent  to  patch  it  w^as  the  work  of  a  very 
short  time,  and  then  we  spent  a  comfortable,  quiet  Whit- 
sunday evening  in  the  tent.  The  cooker  was  soon  going, 
and  we  had  some  smoking-hot  lobscouse  for  dinner,  and 
I  hardly  think  either  of  us  regretted  he  was  not  on  the 
move ;  it  is  undeniably  good  to  make  a  halt  sometimes. 
The  cover  was  soon  patched  and  ready ;  then  I  had  to 
go  out  and  brace  up  the  frame  of  my  kayak  where 
most  of  the  lashings  are  slack  and  must  be  lashed  over 
again ;  this  will  be  no  inconsiderable  piece  of  work ; 
there  are  at  least  forty  of  them.  However,  only  a  couple 
of  the  ribs  are  split,  so  the  framework  can  easily  be  made 
just  as  good  as  before.  Johansen  also  took  the  cover  off 
his  kayak,  and  to-day  it  is  going  to  be  patched. 

"  When  both   the  frames   are  put  in   order   and   the 


240 


FARTHEST  NORTH 


covers  on  we  shall  be  ready  to  start  afresh  and  to  meet 
every  difficulty,  be  it  lanes,  pools,  or  open  sea.  It  will, 
indeed,  be  with  a  feeling  of  security  that  we  shall  set  forth, 
and  there  will  be  an  end  to  this  continual  anxiety  lest  we 
should  meet  with  impassable  lanes.  I  cannot  conceive 
that  anything  now  can   prevent  us  from   soon  reaching 


y  ' 


H-v. 


REPAIRING    THE    KAYAKS 


land.  It  can  hardly  be  long  now  before  we  meet  with 
lanes  and  open  water  in  which  we  can  row.  There  will 
be  a  difficulty  with  the  remaining  dogs,  however,  and  it 
will  be  a  case  of  parting  with  them.  The  dogs'  rations 
were  portioned  out  yesterday  evening,  and  we  still  have 


BY  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  241 

part  of  '  Pan  '  for  supper ;  but  '  Klapperslangen  '  must  go, 
too.  We  shall  then  have  six  dogs,  which,  I  suppose,  we 
can  keep  four  days,  and  still  get  on  a  good  way  with 
them. 

"Whitsuntide!  —  there  is  something  so  lovely  and 
summer-like  in  the  word.  It  is  hard  to  think  how 
beautiful  everything  is  now  at  home,  and  then  to  lie 
here  still,  in  mist  and  wind  and  ice.  How  homesick  one 
grows;  but  what  good  does  it  do.f*  Little  Liv  will  go 
to  dinner  with  her  grandmother  to-day — perhaps  they 
are  dressing  her  in  a  new  frock  at  this  very  moment ! 
Well,  well,  the  time  will  come  when  I  can  go  with  her; 
but  when }  I  must  set  to  work  on  the  lashings,  and  it 
will  be  all  right." 

We  worked  with  ardor  during  the  following  days  to 
get  our  kayaks  ready,  and  even  grudged  the  time  for 
eating.  Twelve  hours  sometimes  went  by  between  each 
meal,  and  our  w^orking  day  often  lasted  for  twenty-four 
hours.  But  all  the  same  it  took  time  to  make  these 
kayaks  fully  seaworthy  again.  The  worst  of  it  was  that 
we  had  to  be  so  careful  with  our  materials,  as  the  op- 
portunities of  acquiring  more  were  not  immoderately 
abundant.  When,  for  instance,  a  rib  had  to  be  relashed 
w^e  could  not  rip  up  the  old  lashing,  but  had  to  unwind 
it  carefully  in  order  not  to  destroy  the  line;  and  w'hen 
there  are  many  scores  of  such  places  to  be  relashed,  this 
takes  time.  Then,  too,  several  of  the  bamboo  ribs  w^hich 
run  along    the    side  of    the    framework    (particularly  in 


242  FARTHEST  NORTH 

Johansen's  kayak)  were  split,  and  these  had  wholly  or 
partly  to  be  taken  out  and  new  ones  substituted,  or  to  be 
strengthened  by  lashings  and  side  splints.  When  the 
covers  were  properly  patched,  and  the  frames,  after 
several  days'  work,  again  in  order,  the  covers  were  put 
on  and  carefully  stretched.  All  this,  of  course,  had  to  be 
done  with  care,  and  was  not  quick  work ;  but  then  we 
had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  the  kayaks  were 
fully  seaworthy,  and  capable,  if  need  be,  of  weathering  a 
storm  on  the  way  over  to  Spitzbergen. 

Meanwhile  the  time  flew  by — our  precious  time;  but 
then  we  hoped  that  our  kayaks  would  render  us  im- 
portant assistance,  and  that  we  should  get  on  all  the 
quicker  in  them.  Thus,  on  Tuesday,  June  4th,  I  wrote 
in  my  diary :  "  It  seems  to  me  that  it  cannot  be  long 
before  we  come  to  open  water  or  slack  ice.  The 
latter  is,  hereabouts,  so  thin  and  broken  up,  and  the 
weather  so  summer-like.  Yesterday  the  thermometer 
was  a  little  below  freezing-point,  and  the  snow  which 
fell  was  more  like  sleet  than  anything  else ;  it  melted 
on  the  tent,  and  it  was  difficult  to  keep  things  from 
getting  wet  inside;  the  walls  dripped  if  we  even  went 
near  them.  We  had  abominable  weather  the  whole 
day  yesterday,  with  falling  snow,  but  for  the  matter  of 
that  we  are  used  to  it;  we  have  had  nothing  else  lately. 
To-day,  however,  it  is  brilliant,  clear  blue  sky,  and  the 
sun  has  just  come  over  the  top  of  our  hummock  and 
down  into  the  tent.     It  will  be  a  glorious  day  to  sit  out 


BY  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  243 

and  work  in  ;  not  like  yesterday,  when  all  one's  tackle 
got  wet;  it  is  worst  of  all  when  one  is  lashing,  for  then 
one  cannot  keep  the  line  taut.  This  sun  is  a  welcome 
friend ;  I  thought  I  was  almost  tired  of  it  before  when  it 
was  always  there ;  but  how  glad  we  are  to  see  it  now,  and 
how  it  cheers  one.  I  can  hardly  get  it  out  of  my  head 
that  it  is  a  glorious,  fresh  June  morning  home  by  the  bay. 
Only  let  us  soon  have  water,  so  that  we  can  use  our 
kayaks,  and  it  will  not  be  long  before  we  are  home. 

"  To-day,*  for  the  first  time  on  the  whole  of  this 
journey,  we  have  dealt  out  rations  for  breakfast,  both  of 
butter,  If  ounces,  and  aleuronate  bread,  6f  ounces.  We 
must  keep  to  weights  in  order  to  be  certain  the  pro- 
visions will  last  out,  and  I  shall  take  stock  properly  of 
what  we  have  left  before  we  go  farther. 

"  Happiness  is,  indeed,  short  -  lived.  The  sun  has 
gone  again,  the  sky  is  overcast,  and  snowflakes  are  be- 
ginning to  fall. 

"Wednesday,  June  5th.  Still  at  the  same  spot,  but 
it  is  to  be  hoped  it  will  not  be  long  before  we  are  able  to 
get  off.  The  weather  was  fine  yesterday,  after  all,  and  so 
summer-like  to  sit  out  and  work  and  bask  in  the  sun ; 
and  then  to  look  out  over  the  water  and  the  ice,  with  the 
glittering  waves  and  snow  ! 


*  Until  this  day  we  had  eaten  what  we  required  without  weighing  out 
rations.  It  proved  that,  after  all,  we  did  not  eat  more  than  what  I  had 
originally  allowed  per  day — i.e.,  i  kilo,  of  dried  food.  We  now  reduced 
these  day's  rations  considerably. 


244  FARTHEST  NORTH 

"  Yesterday  we  shot  our  first  game.  It  was  an  ivory- 
gull  {Lanes  eberiieus),  which  went  flying  over  the  tent. 
There  were  other  gulls  here,  yesterday,  too,  and  we  saw 
as  many  as  four  at  once;  but  they  kept  at  a  distance.  I 
went  after  them  once  and  missed  my  mark.  One  car- 
tridge wasted;  this  must  not  be  repeated.  If  we  had 
taken  the  trouble  we  could  easily  have  got  more  gulls ; 
but  they  are  too  small  game,  and  it  is  also  too  early  to 
use  up  our  ammunition.  In  the  pool  here  I  saw  a  seal, 
and  Johansen  saw  one  too.  We  have  both  seen  and 
heard  narwhals.  There  is  life  enough  here,  and  if  the 
kayaks  were  in  order,  and  we  could  row  out  on  the 
water,  I  have  no  doubt  we  could  get  something.  How- 
ever, it  is  not  necessary  yet.  We  have  provisions 
enough  at  present,  and  it  is  better  to  employ  the  time 
in  getting  on,  on  account  of  the  dogs,  though  it  would 
be  well  if  we  could  get  some  big  game,  and  not  kill  any 
more  of  them  until  our  ice  journey  is  over  and  we 
take  to  the  kayaks  for  good.  Yesterday  we  had  to 
kill  '  Klapperslangen.'  He  gave  twenty  -  five  rations, 
which  will  last  the  six  remaining  dogs  four  days.  The 
slaughtering  was  now  entirely  Johansen's  business  ;  he 
had  achieved  such  celerity  that  with  a  single  thrust  of 
my  long  Lapp  knife  he  made  an  end  of  the  animal,  so 
that  it  had  no  time  to  utter  a  sound,  and  after  a  few 
minutes,  with  the  help  of  the  knife  and  our  little  axe,  he 
had  divided  the  animal  into  suitable  doles.  As  I  men- 
tioned before,  we  left  the  skin  and  hair  on  ;  the  former 


BY  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  245 

was  carefully  eaten  up,  and  the  only  thing  left  after  the 
doo-s'  meal  was,  as  a  rule,  a  tuft  of  hair  here  and  there 
on  the  ice,  some  claws,  and,  perhaps,  a  well-gnawed  cra- 
nium, the  hard  skull  being  too  much  for  them. 

"  They  are  beginning  to  be  pretty  well  starved  now. 
Yesterday  '  Lilleroeven '  ate  up  the  toe-strap  (the  reindeer- 
skin  which  is  placed  under  the  foot  to  prevent  the  snow 
from  balling),  and  a  little  of  the  wood  of  Johansen's  snow- 
shoes,  which  the  dog  had  pulled  down  on  to  the  ice.  The 
late  'Kvik'  ate  up  her  sail-cloth  harness,  and  I  am  not  so 
sure  these  others  do  not  indulge  in  a  fragment  of  canvas 
now  and  then. 

"  I  have  just  reckoned  out  our  longitude  according  to 
an  observation  taken  with  the  theodolite  yesterday,  and 
make  it  to  be  61'  16.5'  E. ;  our  latitude  was  82°  17.8'  N. 
I  cannot  understand  why  we  do  not  see  land.  The  only 
possible  explanation  must  be  that  we  are  farther  east  than 
we  think,  and  that  the  land  stretches  southward  in  that 
direction;  but  we  cannot  have  much  farther  to  go  now. 
Just  at  this  moment  a  bird  flew  over  us,  which  Johansen, 
\vho  is  standing  just  outside  the  tent,  took  to  be  a  kind 
of  sandpiper. 

"Thursday,  June  6th.  Still  on  the  same  spot.  I  am 
lonsins  to  o:et  off,  see  what  things  look  like,  and  have  a 
final  solution  of  this  riddle,  which  is  constantly  before  me. 
It  will  be  a  real  pleasure  to  be  under  way  again  with  whole 
tackle,  and  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  we  shall  soon  be 
able  to  use  our  kayaks  in  open  water.     Life  would  be 


246  FARTHEST  NORTH 

another  thing  then !  Fancy,  to  get  clear  for  good  of  this 
ice  and  these  lanes,  this  toil  with  the  sledges  and  endless 
trouble  with  the  dogs,  only  one's  self  in  a  light  craft  danc- 
ing over  the  waves  at  play !  It  is  almost  too  much  to 
think  of.  Perhaps  we  have  still  many  a  hard  turn  before 
we  reach  it,  many  a  dark  hour;  but  some  time  it  must 
come,  and  then — then  life  will  be  life  again ! 

"  Yesterday,  at  last,  we  finished  mending  the  frame- 
work of  both  kayaks.  We  rigged  up  some  plaited  bam- 
boo at  the  bottom  of  each  to  place  the  provisions  on,  in 
order  to  prevent  them  from  getting  wet  in  case  the  ka- 
yaks should  leak.  To-day  we  have  only  to  go  over  them 
again,  test  the  lashings,  and  brace  (support)  those  that 
may  require  it,  and  finally  put  the  covers  on.  To-morrow 
evening  I  hope  we  shall  get  off.  This  repairing  has 
taken  it  out  of  the  cord  ;  of  our  three  balls  we  have  rather 
less  than  one  left.  This  I  am  very  anxious  to  keep,  as  we 
may  require  it  for  fishing,  and  so  forth. 

"  Our  various  provisions  are  beginning  to  dwindle. 
Weighed  the  butter  yesterday,  and  found  that  we  only 
had  5  pounds  i  ounce.  If  we  reckon  our  daily  ration  at 
i^  ounces  per  man  it  will  last  another  23  days,  and  by 
that  time  we  shall  have  gone  a  little  farther.  To-day,  for 
the  first  time,  I  could  note  down  a  temperature  above 
freezing-point — i.e.,  +35.6°  Fahr.  this  morning.  The 
snow  outside  was  soft  all  through,  and  the  hummocks 
are  dripping.  It  will  not  be  long  now  before  we  find 
water  on  the  floes.     Last  night,  too,  it  absolutely  rained. 


BY  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  247 

It  was  only  a  short  shower;  first  of  all  it  drizzled,  then 
came  large,  heavy  drops,  and  we  took  shelter  inside  the 
tent  in  order  not  to  get  wet — but  it  was  rain,  rain  !  It 
was  quite  a  summer  feeling  to  sit  in  here  and  listen  to 
the  drops  splashing  on  the  tent  wall.  As  regards  the 
going,  this  thaw  will  probably  be  a  good  thing  if  we 
should  have  frost  again ;  but  if  the  snow  is  to  continue 
as  it  is  now,  it  will  be  a  fine  mess  to  get  through  among 
all  these  ridges  and  hummocks.  Instead  of  such  a  con- 
tingency, it  would  be  better  to  have  as  much  rain  as  pos- 
sible, to  melt  and  wash  the  ice  clear  of  snow.  Well, 
well,  it  must  do  as  it  likes !  It  cannot  be  long  now  be- 
fore it  takes  a  turn  for  the  better — land  or  open  water, 
whichever  it  may  be. 

"Saturday,  June  Sth.  Finished  and  tried  the  kayaks 
yesterday  at  last,  but  only  by  dint  of  sticking  to  our 
work  from  the  evening  of  the  day  before  yesterday  to  the 
evening  of  yesterday.  It  is  remarkable  that  we  are  able 
to  continue  working  so  long  at  a  stretch.  If  we  were  at 
home  we  should  be  very  tired  and  hungry,  with  so  many 
working  hours  between  meals ;  but  here  it  does  not  seem 
more  than  it  should  be,  although  our  appetites  certainly 
are  first-rate  and  our  sleeping  powers  good.  It  does  not 
seem  as  if  we  were  growing  weak  or  sickening  for  scurvy 
just  yet.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  so  far  as  I  know,  we  are 
unusually  strong  and  healthy  just  now  and  in  full 
elasticity. 

"  When  we  tried  the  kayaks  in  a  little  lane  just  here 


248  FARTHEST  NORTH 

we  found  them  considerably  leaky  in  the  seams  and  also 
in  the  canvas,  from  their  rough  usage  on  the  way,  but  it 
is  to  be  hoped  no  more  so  than  will  be  remedied  when  a 
little  soakinof  makes  the  canvas  swell  out.  It  will  not 
be  agreeable  to  ferry  over  lanes  and  have  to  put  our 
kayaks  dry  and  leaky  on  the  water.  Our  provisions  may 
not  improbably  be  reduced  to  a  pulp ;  but  we  shall  have 
to  put  up  with  that,  too,  like  everything  else. 

"  And  so  we  really  mean  to  get  off  to-day,  after  a 
week's  stay  on  the  same  spot.  Yesterday  the  southeast 
wind  set  in  ;  it  has  increased  to-day  and  become  rather 
strong,  to  judge  by  the  whistling  round  the  hummocks 
outside.  I  lay  here  this  morning  fancying  I  heard  the 
sound  of  breakers  a  little  way  off.  All  the  lanes  about 
here  closed  yesterday,  and  there  was  little  open  water  to 
be  seen.  It  is  owing  to  this  wind,  I  suppose,  and  if  it  is 
going  to  close  lanes  for  us,  then  let  it  blow  on.  The 
snow  is  covered  with  a  crust  of  ice,  the  going  is  as  good 
as  possible,  and  the  ice,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  is  more  or  less 
flat,  so  we  shall  be  all  right. 

"  Johansen  shot  another  ivory  gull  yesterday,  and  we 
had  it  and  another  one  for  dinner.  It  was  our  first  taste 
of  fresh  food,  and  was,  it  cannot  be  denied,  very  good ; 
but  all  the  same  not  so  delightful  as  one  would  expect, 
seeing  that  we  have  not  had  fresh  meat  for  so  many 
months.  It  is  a  proof,  no  doubt,  that  the  food  we  have  is 
also  good. 

"  Weighed    the    bread   yesterday ;    found   we    had    26 


^ 


t?^ 


BY  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  249 

pounds  4  ounces  of  wheaten  bread  and  17  pounds  i 
ounce  of  aleuronate  bread ;  so,  for  that  matter,  we  can 
manage  for  another  thirty -five  or  forty  days,  and  how 
far  we  shall  then  have  got  the  gods  alone  know,  but 
some  part  of  the  way  it  must  be. 

"  Sunday,  June  9th.  We  got  away  from  our  camping- 
ground  at  last  yesterday,  and  we  were  more  than  pleased. 
In  spite  of  the  weather,  which  was  as  bad  as  it  could  be, 
with  a  raofins:  snow-storm  from  the  east,  we  were  both 
glad  to  begin  our  wanderings  again.  It  took  some  time 
to  fix  grips  under  the  kayaks,  consisting  of  sack,  sleep- 
ing -  bag,  and  blankets,  and  so  load  the  sledges ;  but 
eventually  we  made  a  start.  We  got  well  off  the  floe  we 
had  lived  on  so  long,  and  did  not  even  have  to  use  the 
kayaks  which  we  had  spent  a  week  in  patching  for  that 
purpose.  The  wind  had  carefully  closed  the  lanes.  We 
found  flat  ice -country,  and  made  good  way  in  spite 
of  the  most  villanous  going,  with  newly  fallen  snow, 
which  stuck  to  one's  snow-shoes  mercilessly,  and  in  which 
the  sledges  stood  as  if  fixed  to  the  spot  as  soon  as  they 
stopped.  The  weather  was  such  that  one  could  not  see 
many  hundred  feet  in  front  of  one,  and  the  snow  which 
accumulated  on  one's  clothes  on  the  weather-side  wetted 
one  to  the  skin ;  but  still  it  was  glorious  to  see  ourselves 
making  progress — progress  towards  our  stubborn  goal. 
We  came  across  a  number  of  lanes,  and  they  were  diffi- 
cult to  cross,  with  their  complicated  net-work  of  cracks 
and  rids^es  in  all  directions.     Some  of  them  were  broad 


250  FARTHEST  NORTH 

and  full  of  brash,  which  rendered  it  impossible  to  use 
the  kayaks.  In  some  places,  however,  the  brash  was 
pressed  so  tightly  together  that  we  could  walk  on  it. 
But  many  journeys  to  and  fro  are  nearly  always  nec- 
essary before  any  reasonable  opportunity  of  advance  is 
to  be  found.  This  time  is  often  long  to  the  one  who 
remains  behind  w^ith  the  dogs,  being  blown  through  or 
wetted  through  meanwhile,  as  the  case  may  be.  Often, 
when  it  seemed  as  if  I  were  never  coming  back,  did 
Johansen  think  I  had  fallen  through  some  lane  and  was 
gone  for  good.  As  one  sits  there  on  the  kayak, 
waiting  and  waiting,  and  gazing  in  front  of  one  into 
solitude,  many  strange  thoughts  pass  through  one's 
brain.  Several  times  he  climbed  the  highest  hummock 
near  at  hand  to  scan  the  ice  anxiously ;  and  then,  when 
at  last  he  discovered  a  little  black  speck  moving  about 
on  the  white  flat  surface  far,  far  away,  his  mind  would 
be  relieved.  As  Johansen  was  waiting  in  this  way  yes- 
terday, he  remarked  that  the  sides  of  the  floe  in  front 
of  him  were  slowly  moving  up  and  down,*  as  they  might 
if  rocked  by  a  slight  swell.  Can  open  water  be  near.f* 
Can  it  be  that  the  great  breakers  from  the  sea  have  pene- 
trated in  here  }  How  willingly  would  we  believe  it !  But 
perhaps  it  was  only  the  wind  which  set  the  thin  ice  we 
are  now  travelling  over  in  wave-like  motion.  Or  have  we 
really  open  water  to  the  southeast  ?    It  is  remarkable  that 

*  It  was  probably  pressure  of  the  floes  against  each  other  which  caused 
this  movement.     We  noticed  the  same  motion  several  times  later. 


1   ,-' 
jl  ^ 

,1        n 

'"N?^ 

'4  ■*"  V-  A       ^ 

BY  SLEDGE  AND   KAYAK  253 

this  wind  welds  the  ice  together,  while  the  southwest  wind 
here  a  little  while  ago  slackened  it.  When  all  is  said,  is 
it  possible  that  w^e  are  not  far  from  the  sea?  I  cannot 
help  thinking  of  the  water-reflections  we  have  seen  on 
the  sk)'  before  us.  Johansen  has  just  left  the  tent,  and 
says  that  he  can  see  the  same  reflection  in  the  south;  it 
is  higher  now,  and  the  weather  tolerably  clear.  What 
can  it  be  t     Only  let  us  go  on  and  get  there. 

"  We  came  across  the  track  of  a  bear  again  yesterday. 
How  old  it  was  could  not  easily  be  determined  in  this 
snow,  which  obliterates  everything  in  a  few  minutes ;  but 
it  was  probably  from  yesterday,  for '  Haren'  directly  after- 
wards got  scent  of  something  and  started  off  against 
the  wind,  so  that  Johansen  thought  the  bear  must  be 
somewhere  near.  Well,  well,  old  or  new,  a  bear  was 
there  while  we  were  a  little  farther  north,  stitching  at 
the  kayaks,  and  one  day  it  will  come  our  way,  too,  no 
doubt !  The  gull  which  Johansen  shot  brought  up  a 
large  piece  of  blubber  when  it  fell,  and  this  tends  to  con- 
firm us  in  the  belief  that  bears  are  at  hand,  as  it  hardly 
could  have  done  so  had  it  not  been  in  such  company. 

"  The  weather  was  wet  and  w^retched,  and,  to  make 
things  worse,  there  was  a  thick  mist,  and  the  going  was 
as  heavy  as  could  be.  To  go  on  did  not  seem  very 
attractive  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  a  halt  for  dinner  in 
this  slush  was  still  less  so.  We  therefore  continued  a 
little  while  longer  and  stopped  at  10  o'clock  for  good. 
What   a    welcome    change  it  was  to  be  under  the  tent 


254  FARTHEST  NORTH 

again  !  And  the  '  fiskegratin'  was  delicious.  It  gives  one 
such  a  sense  of  satisfaction  to  feel  that,  in  spite  of  every- 
thing, one  is  making  a  little  way.  The  temperature  is 
beginning  to  be  bad  now ;  the  snow  is  quite  wet,  and 
some  water  has  entered  my  kayak,  which  I  suppose  melted 
on  the  deck  and  ran  down  through  the  open  side  where 
the  lacing  is,  which  we  have  not  yet  sewn  fast.  We  are 
waiting  for  good  weather  in  order  to  get  the  covers 
thoroughly  dry  first,  and  then  stretch  them  well. 

"  Monday,  June  loth.  In  spite  of  the  most  impene- 
trable mist  and  the  most  detestable  going  on  soppy 
snow,  which  has  not  yet  been  sufficiently  exposed  to  frost 
to  become  granular,  and  where  the  sledges  rode  their 
very  heaviest,  we  still  managed  to  make  good,  even 
progress  the  whole  day  yesterday.  There  were  innumer- 
able lanes,  of  course,  to  deal  with,  and  many  crossings 
on  loose  pieces  of  ice,  which  we  accomplished  at  a  pinch. 
But  the  ice  is  flat  here  everywhere,  and  every  little 
counts.  It  is  the  same  thin  winter -ice  of  about  three 
feet  in  thickness.  I  only  saw  a  couple  of  old  floes  yes- 
terday— they  were  in  the  neighborhood  of  our  camping- 
ground,  which  was  also  on  an  old  floe ;  otherwise  the 
ice  is  new,  and  in  places  very  new.  We  went  over  some 
large  expanses  yesterday  of  ice  one  foot  or  less  in  thick- 
ness. The  last  of  these  tracts  in  particular  was  very 
remarkable,  and  must  at  one  time  have  been  an  immense 
pool;  the  ice  on  it  was  so  thin  that  it  cannot  be  long 
before  it  melts  altogether.     There  was  water  on  all  this 


BY  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  255 

ice,  and  it  was  like  walking  through  gruel.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  ice  about  here  is  nothing  else  but  pure  broken- 
up  sea-ice,  consisting  of  large  and  small  floes,  not  infre- 
quently very  small  floes  closely  aggregated ;  but  when 
they  have  the  chance  of  slackening  they  will  spread  over 
the  whole  sea  hereabouts,  and  we  shall  have  water  enough 
to  row  in  any  direction  we  please. 

"  The  weather  seems  to-day  to  be  of  the  same  kind 
as  yesterday,  with  a  southwest  wind,  which  is  tearing 
and  rattling  at  the  tent  walls.  A  thaw  and  wet  snow. 
I  do  not  know  if  we  shall  get  any  more  frost,  but  it  would 
make  the  snow  in  splendid  condition  for  our  snow-shoes. 
I  am  afraid,  however,  that  the  contrary  will  rather  be 
the  case,  and  that  we  shall  soon  be  in  for  the  worst 
break  -  up  of  the  winter.  The  lanes  otherwise  are  be- 
ginning to  improve ;  they  are  no  longer  so  full  of  brash 
and  slush;  it  is  melting  away,  and  bridges  and  such- 
like have  a  better  chance  of  forming  in  the  clearer 
water. 

"  We  scan  the  horizon  unremittingly  for  land  every 
time  there  is  a  clear  interval ;  but  nothing,  never  any- 
thing, to  be  seen.  Meanwhile  we  constantly  see  signs 
of  the  proximity  of  land  or  open  water.  The  gulls 
increase  conspicuously  in  number,  and  yesterday  we  saw 
a  little  auk  {Mergulus  alle)  in  a  lane.  The  atmosphere 
in  the  south  and  southwest  is  always  apt  to  be  dark,  but 
the  weather  has  been  such  that  we  can  really  see  nothing. 
Yet  I  feel  that  the  solution  is  approaching.     But,  then, 


256  FARTHEST  NORTH 

how  long  have  I  not  thought  so  ?  There  is  nothing  for 
it  but  the  noble  virtue  of  patience. 

"What  beautiful  ice  this  would  have  been  to  travel 
over  in  April  before  all  these  lanes  were  formed — endless 
flat  plains !  For  the  lanes,  as  far  as  we  know,  are  all 
newly  formed  ones,  with  some  ridges  here  and  there, 
which  are  also  new. 

"Tuesday,  July  iith.  A  monotonous  life  this  on 
the  whole,  as  monotonous  as  one  can  well  imao^ine  it — 
to  turn  out  day  after  day,  week  after  week,  month 
after  month,  to  the  same  toil,  over  ice  which  is  some- 
times a  little  better,  sometimes  a  little  worse  (it  now 
seems  to  be  steadily  getting  worse),  always  hoping  to 
see  an  end  to  it,  but  always  hoping  in  vain — ever  the 
same  monotonous  range  of  vision  over  ice,  and  again  ice. 
No  sign  of  land  in  any  direction  and  no  open  water,  and 
now  we  should  be  in  the  same  latitude  as  Cape  Fligely, 
or  at  most  a  couple  of  minutes  farther  north.  We  do 
not  know  where  we  are,  and  we  do  not  know  when  this 
will  end.  Meanwhile  our  provisions  are  dwindling  day 
by  day,  and  the  number  of  our  dogs  is  growing  seriously 
less.  Shall  we  reach  land  while  we  yet  have  food,  or  shall 
we,  when  all  is  said,  ever  reach  it }  It  will  soon  be  im- 
possible to  make  any  way  against  this  ice  and  snow.  The 
latter  is  only  slush  ;  the  dogs  sink  through  at  every  step, 
and  we  ourselves  splash  through  it  up  above  our  knees 
when  we  have  to  help  the  dogs  or  take  a  turn  at  the 
heavy  sledges,  which  happens  frequently.     It  is  hard  to 


BY  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK 


257 


cTo  on  hoping  in  such  circumstances,  but  still  we  do  so; 
though  sometimes,  perhaps,  our  hearts  fail  us  when  we 
see  the  ice  lying  before  us  like  an  impenetrable  maze  of 
ridges,  lanes,  brash,  and  huge  blocks  thrown  together 
pell-mell,  and   one   might   imagine  ones  self  looking  at 


A    CURDLED    SEA 


suddenly  congealed  breakers.     There  are  moments  when 

it  seems  impossible  that  any  creature  not  possessed  of 

wings  can  get  farther,  and  one  longingly  follows  the  flight 

of  a  passing  gull,  and  thinks  how  far  away  one   would 

soon  be  could  one  borrow  its  wings.     But  then,  in  spite 

of  everything,  one  finds  a  way,  and  hope  springs  eternal. 
11.-17 


258  FARTHEST  NORTH 

Let  the  sun  peep  out  a  moment  from  the  bank  of  clouds, 
and  the  ice-plains  glitter  in  all  their  whiteness ;  let  the 
sunbeams  play  on  the  water,  and  life  seems  beautiful  in 
spite  of  all,  and  worthy  a  struggle. 

"  It  is  wonderful  how  little  it  takes  to  give  one  fresh 
courage.  Yesterday  I  found  dead  in  a  lane  a  little  polar 
cod  {Gadus  polaris),  and  my  eyes,  I  am  sure,  must  have 
shone  with  pleasure  when  I  saw  it.  It  was  real  treasure- 
trove.  Where  there  is  fish  in  the  water  one  can  hardly 
starve,  and  before  I  crept  into  the  tent  this  morning  I 
set  a  line  in  the  lane  beside  us.  But  what  a  number  of 
these  little  fish  it  would  require  to  feed  one;  many  more 
in  one  day  than  one  could  catch  in  a  week,  or  perhaps  in 
a  month  !  Yet  one  is  hopeful,  and  lies  counting-  the 
chances  of  there  being  larger  fish  in  the  water  here,  and 
of  being  able  to  fish  to  one's  heart  s  content. 

"  Advance  yesterday  was  more  dif^cult  than  on  the 
previous  days,  the  ice  more  uneven  and  massive,  and  in 
some  places  with  occasional  old  fioes  in  between.  We 
were  stopped  by  many  bad  lanes,  too,  so  did  not  make 
much  way — I  am  afraid  not  more  than  three  or  four  miles. 
I  think  we  may  now  reckon  on  being  in  latitude  82°  8' 
or  9'  N.  if  this  continual  southeast  wind  has  not  sent 
us  northward  again.  The  going  is  getting  worse  and 
worse.  The  snow  is  water  -  soaked  to  the  bottom,  and 
will  not  bear  the  dogs  any  longer,  though  it  has  become 
a  little  more  granular  lately,  and  the  sledges  run  well  on 
it  when  they  do  not  cut  through,  which  happens  continu- 


BY  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  259 

ally,  and  then  they  are  almost  immovable.  It  is  heavy 
for  the  dogs,  and  would  be  so  even  if  they  were  not  so 
wretchedly  worn  out  as  they  are ;  they  stop  at  the  slight- 
est thing,  and  have  to  be  helped  or  driven  forward  with 
the  whip.  Poor  animals,  they  have  a  bad  time  of  it ! 
'  Lilleraeven,'  the  last  of  my  original  team,  will  soon  be 
unable  to  go  farther — and  such  a  good  animal  to  haul ! 
We  have  5  dogs  left  ('  Lillerceven,'  '  Storrasven,'  and 
'Kaifas'  to  my  sledge,  '  Suggen'  and  '  Haren  '  to  Johan- 
sen's).  We  still  have  enough  food  for  them  for  three 
days,  from  '  Isbjbn,'  who  was  killed  yesterday  morning ; 
and  before  that  time  Johansen  thinks  the  riddle  will  be 
solved.  Vain  hope,  I  am  afraid,  although  the  water-sky 
in  the  southeast  or  south-southeast  (magnetic)  seems  al- 
ways to  keep  in  the  same  position  and  has  risen  much 
higher. 

"We  began  our  march  at  half-past  six  yesterday 
afternoon,  and  stopped  before  a  lane  at  a  quarter-past 
three  this  morning.  I  saw  fresh- water  pools  on  the 
ice  under  some  hummocks  yesterday  for  the  first  time. 
Where  we  stopped,  however,  there  were  none  to  be 
found,  so  we  had  to  melt  water  again  this  morning;  but 
it  will  not  often  be  necessary  hereafter,  I  hope,  and  we 
can  save  our  oil,  which,  by -the -way,  is  becoming  alarm- 
ingly reduced.  Outside,  the  weather  and  snow  are  the 
same;  no  pleasure  in  turning  out  to  the  toils  of  the  day. 
I  lie  here  thinking  of  our  June  at  home — how  the  sun  is 
shining  over  forest  and  fjord  and  wooded  hills,  and  there 


26o  FARTHEST  NORTH 

is —     But  some  time  we  shall  get  back  to  life,  and  then 
it  will  be  fairer  than  it  has  ever  been  before. 

"Wednesday,  June  12th.  This  is  getting  worse  and 
worse.  Yesterday  we  did  nothing,  hardly  advanced  more 
than  a  mile.  Wretched  snow,  uneven  ice,  lanes,  and 
villanous  weather  stopped  us.  There  was  certainly  a 
crust  on  the  snow,  on  which  the  sledges  ran  well  when 
they  were  on  it ;  but  when  they  broke  through  —  and 
they  did  it  constantly — they  stood  immovable.  This 
crust,  too,  was  bad  for  the  dogs,  poor  things  !  They  sank 
through  it  into  the  deep  snow^  between  the  irregulari- 
ties, and  it  was  like  swimming  through  slush  for  them. 
But  all  the  same  we  made  way.  Lanes  stopped  us,  it 
is  true,  but  we  cleared  them  somehow.  Over  one  of 
them,  the  last,  which  looked  nasty,  we  got  by  making  a 
bridge  of  small  floes,  which  w^e  guided  to  the  narrowest 
place.  But  then  a  shameless  storm  of  wet  snow,  or,  more 
correctly,  sleet,  with  immense  flakes,  set  in,  and  the  wind 
increased.  We  could  not  see  our  way  in  this  labyrinth 
of  lanes  and  hummocks,  and  were  as  soaked  as  ducked 
crows,  as  we  say.  The  going  was  impossible,  and  the 
sledges  as  good  as  immovable  in  the  wet  snow,  which 
was  soon  deep  enough  to  cling  to  our  '  ski '  underneath 
in  great  lumps,  and  prevent  them  from  running.  There 
was  hardly  any  choice  but  to  find  a  camping-ground  as 
soon  as  possible,  for  to  force  one's  way  along  in  such 
weather  and  on  such  snow,  and  make  no  progress,  was 
of  little  use.     We   found    a  good  camping -ground  and 


BY   SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  261 

pitched  our  tent  after  only  four  hours'  march,  and  went 
without  our  dinner  to  make  up. 

"  Here  we  are,  then,  hardly  knowing  what  to  do  next. 
What  the  going  is  like  outside  I  do  not  know  yet,  but 
probably  not  much  better  than  yesterday,  and  whether 
we  ought  to  push  on  the  little  we  can,  or  go  out  and 
try  to  capture  a  seal,  I  cannot  decide.  The  worst  of 
it  is  that  there  do  not  seem  to  be  many  seals  in  the 
ice  where  we  now  are.  We  have  seen  none  the  last 
few  days.  Perhaps  it  is  too  thick  and  compact  for 
them  (?).  The  ice  here  is  strikingly  different  in  char- 
acter from  that  we  have  been  travelling  over  of  late.  It 
is  considerably  more  uneven,  for  one  thing,  with  mounds 
and  somewhat  old  ridges — among  them  some  very  large 
ones.  Nor  does  it  look  so  very  old — in  general,  I 
should  say,  of  last  winter's  formation,  though  there  are 
occasional  old  floes  in  between.  They  appear  to  have 
been  near  land,  as  clay  and  earthy  matter  are  frequently 
to  be  seen,  particularly  in  the  newly  formed  ridges. 

"  Johansen,  who  has  gone  out,  says  the  same  water- 
sky  is  to  be  seen  in  the  south.  Why  is  it  we  cannot 
reach  it.'^  But  there  it  is,  all  the  same,  an  alluring  goal 
for  us  to  make  for,  even  if  we  do  not  reach  it  very  soon. 
We  see  it  again  and  again,  looking  so  blue  and  beau- 
tiful ;  for  us  it  is  the  color  of  hope. 

"  Friday,  June  14th.  It  is  three  months  to-day  since 
we  left  the  Fram.  A  quarter  of  a  year  have  we  been 
wandering  in   this  desert  of  ice,  and   here  we  are  still. 


262  FAKl^HEST  NORTH 

When  we  shall  see  the  end  of  it  I  can  no  longer  form 
any  idea;  I  only  hope  whatever  may  be  in  store  for  us 
is  not  very  far  off,  open  water  or  land — Wilczek  Land, 
Zichy  Land,  Spitzbergen,  or  some  other  country, 

"  Yesterday  was  not  quite  so  bad  a  day  as  I  expected. 
We  really  did  advance,  though  not  very  far — hardly  more 
than  a  couple  of  miles — but  we  must  be  content  with 
that  at  this  time  of  year.  The  dogs  could  not  manage 
to  draw  the  sledges  alone  ;  if  there  was  nobody  beside 
them  they  stopped  at  every  other  step.  The  only  thing 
to  be  done  was  to  make  a  journey  to  and  fro,  and  thus 
eo  over  the  cjround  three  times.  While  I  went  on  ahead 
to  explore,  Johansen  drove  the  sledges  as  far  as  he 
could ;  first  mine,  and  then  back  again  after  his  own.  By 
that  time  I  had  returned  and  drove  my  own  sledge  as  far 
as  I  had  found  a  way ;  and  then  this  performance  was 
repeated  all  over  again.  It  was  not  rapid  progress,  but 
progress  it  was  of  a  kind,  and  that  was  something.  The 
ice  we  are  going  over  is  anything  but  even  ;  it  is  still 
rather  massive  and  old,  with  hummocks  and  irregularities 
in  every  direction,  and  no  real  flat  tracts.  When,  added 
to  this,  after  going  a  short  distance,  we  came  to  a  place 
where  the  ice  was  broken  up  into  small  floes,  with  high 
ridges  and  broad  lanes  filled  with  slush  and  brash,  so 
that  the  whole  thing  looked  like  a  single  mass  of  debris, 
where  there  was  hardly  standing-room,  to  say  nothing  of 
any  prospect  of  advance,  it  was  only  human  to  lose  cour- 
age  and  give   up,  for  the    time   being,  trying  to  get  on. 


Cc 
On 


BY  SLEDGE   AXD   KAYAK  265 

Wherever  I  turned  the  way  was  closed,  and  it  looked  as 
if  advance  was  denied  us  for  good.  To  launch  the 
kayaks  would  be  of  no  avail,  for  we  could  hardly  expect 
to  propel  them  through  this  accumulation  of  fragments, 
and  I  was  on  the  point  of  making  up  my  mind  to  wait 
and  try  our  luck  with  the  net  and  line,  and  see  if  we 
could  not  manage  to  find  a  seal  somewhere  in  these 
lanes. 

"  These  are  moments  full  of  anxiety,  when  from  some 
hummock  one  looks  doubtingly  over  the  ice,  ones 
thoughts  continually  reverting  to  the  same  question : 
have  we  provisions  enough  to  wait  for  the  time  when  the 
snow  will  have  melted  and  the  ice  have  become  slacker 
and  more  intersected  with  lanes,  so  that  one  can  row  be- 
tween the  floes  t  Or  is  there  any  probability  of  our  be- 
ins  able  to  obtain  sufificient  food,  if  that  which  we  have 
should  fall  short  ?  These  are  great  and  important  ques- 
tions which  I  cannot  yet  answer  for  certain.  That  it  will 
take  a  long  time  before  all  this  snow  melts  away  and  ad- 
vance becomes  fairly  practicable  is  certain ;  at  what  time 
the  ice  may  become  slacker,  and  progress  by  means  of  the 
lanes  possible,  we  cannot  say ;  and  up  to  this  we  have 
taken  nothing,  with  the  exception  of  two  ivory  gulls  and 
a  small  fish.  We  did,  indeed,  see  another  fish  swimming 
near  the  surface  of  the  water,  but  it  was  no  larger  than 
the  other.  W^here  we  are  just  now  there  seems  to  be 
little  prospect  of  capturing  anything.  I  have  not  seen  a 
single  seal  the  last  few  days;  though  yesterday  I  saw  the 


266 


FARTHEST  NORTH 


snowed-down  track  of  a  bear.  Meanwhile  we  see  ivory 
gulls  continually ;  but  they  are  still  too  small  to  be  worth 
a  cartridge ;  yesterday,  however,  I  saw  a  large  gull,  prob- 
ably Larus  argentatus. 

"  I  determined  to  make  one  more  attempt  to  get  on 
by  striking  farther  east,  and  this  time  I  was  successful 
in  finding  a  passage  across  by  way  of  a  number  of  small 
floes.  On  the  other  side  there  was  rather  old  compact 
ice,  partially  of  formation  a  summer  old,  which  seemed 
to  have  been  near  land,  as  it  was  irregular,  and  much 
intermixed  with  earthy  matter.  We  have  travelled  over 
this  ice-field  ever  since  without  coming  on  lanes ;  but  it 
was  uneven,  and  we  came  to  grief  several  times.  In 
other  places  again  it  was  pretty  good. 

"  We  began  our  march  at  8  o'clock  on  Wednesday 
afternoon,  and  halted  here  at  5  o'clock  this  morning.* 
Later  on  in  the  forenoon  the  wind  went  over  to  the 
northeast  and  the  temperature  fell.  The  snow  froze 
hard,  and  eventually  the  going  became  pretty  good.  The 
crust  on  the  snow  bore  the  dogs  up,  and  also  the  sledges 
to  a  certain  extent,  and  we  looked  forward  to  good  going 
on  the  following  day;  but  in  this  we  were  doomed  to 
disappointment.  No  sooner  had  we  got  inside  the  tent 
than  it  began  to  snow,  and  kept  briskly  at  it  the  whole 
day  while   we    slept ;   and   yesterday  evening,   when   we 


*We  found  water  on  the  ice  here  suitable  for  cooking  for  the  first 
time.  It  was,  however,  somewhat  salt,  so  that  the  "  fiskegratin  "  was  too 
well  seasoned. 


BY  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  267 

turned  out  to  get  breakfast  ready  and  start  off,  it  was 
still  snowing,  and  deep,  loose  snow  covered  everything — 
a  state  of  things  bad  beyond  description.  There  was 
no  sense  in  going  on,  and  we  decided  to  wait  and  see 
how  matters  would  turn  out.  Meanwhile  we  were 
hungry,  but  a  full  breakfast  we  could  not  afford,  so 
I  prepared  a  small  portion  of  fish  soup,  and  we  re- 
turned to  the  bag  again  —  Johansen  to  sleep  on,  I  to 
rereckon  all  my  observations  from  the  time  we  left 
the  Franz,  and  see  if  some  error  might  not  explain 
the  mystery  why  no  land  was  yet  to  be  found.  The 
sun  had  partially  appeared,  and  I  tried,  though  in  vain, 
to  take  an  observation.  I  stood  waiting  for  more  than 
an  hour  with  the  theodolite  up,  but  the  sun  went  in 
again  and  remained  out  of  si^ht.  I  have  calculated 
and  calculated  and  thought  and  thought,  but  can  find 
no  mistake  of  any  importance,  and  the  whole  thing  is 
a  riddle  to  me.  I  am  beginning  seriously  to  doubt 
that  we  may  be  too  far  west,  after  all.  I  simply  can- 
not conceive  that  we  are  too  far  east ;  for  in  such  a 
case  we  cannot,  at  any  rate,  be  more  than  5°  farther 
east  than  our  observations*  make  us.  Supposing,  for  in- 
stance, that  our  watches  have  gone  too  fast,  'Johann- 
sen  '  t    cannot,   at   all    events,    have   gained    more    than 


*  As  it  proved  later,  we  were,  in  reality,  about  6°  farther  east  than  we 
thought. 

1 1  called  my  watch  thus  after  Johannsen,  the  watchmaker  in  London 
who  supplied  it. 


268  FARTHEST  NORTH 

double  its  previous  escapement.  I  have  assumed  an 
escapement  of  five  seconds ;  but  supposing  that  the 
escapement  has  been  ten  seconds,  this  does  not  make 
more  difference  than  6'  40"  in  eighty  days  (the  time 
from  our  departure  from  the  Fram  till  the  last  ob- 
servation)— that  is,  1°  40'  farther  east  than  we  ought  to 
be.  Assuming,  too,  that  I  have  calculated  our  days' 
marches  at  too  great  length,  in  the  days  between  April 
8th  and  13th,  and  that  instead  of  36  English  geograph- 
ical miles,  or,  rather,  more  than  40  statute  miles,  we 
have  only  gone  24  English  geographical  miles,  or  28 
statute  miles  (less  we  cannot  possibly  have  gone),  we 
should  then  have  been  in  89°  E.  instead  of  86°  E.  on 
the  13th,  as  we  supposed.  That  is  3°  farther  east,  or 
with  the  figures  above,  let  us  say  together  5°  farther 
east — i.e.,  we  now  instead  of  being  in  longitude  61"  E. 
should  be  in  66°  E.,*  or  about  'jo  miles  from  Cape  Flige- 
ly.  But  it  seems  to  me  we  ought  to  see  land  south  of 
us  just  the  same.  Wilczek  Land  cannot  be  so  low  and 
trend  suddenly  so  far  to  the  south,  when  Cape  Buda- 
pest is  said  to  lie  in  about  61°  E.  and  82°  N.,  and 
should  thus  be  not  so  much  as  50  miles  from  us.  No, 
this  is  inconceivable.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  not  any 
easier  to  suppose  ourselves  west  of  it ;  we  must  have 
drifted  very  materially  between  April  8th  and   13th,  or 

*  In  reality  we  were  somewhat  near  the  point  I  here  assume  (we  were  in 
67"  E.,  approximately).  The  reason  why  we  did  not  see  the  land  here 
mentioned  was  because  it  does  not  exist,  as  was  proved  later. 


BY  SLEDGE    AND   KAYAK  269 

my  watch  must  have  stopped  for  a  time  before  April  2d. 
The  observations  from  April  2d,  4th,  and  8th  seem,  in- 
deed, to  indicate  that  we  drifted  considerably  westward. 
On  the  2d  we  appeared  to  be  in  103''  6'  E.,  on  the  4th 
in  99°  59'  E.,  and  April  8th  in  95°  7'  E.  Between  these 
dates  there  were  no  marches  of  importance ;  between 
the  observations  on  the  2d  and  the  4th  there  was  only 
a  short  half-day's  march  ;  and  between  the  4th  and  the 
7th  a  couple,  which  amounted  to  nothing,  and  could  only 
have  carried  us  a  little  westward.  This  is  as  much  as 
to  say  that  we  must  have  drifted  8°,  or  let  us  reckon  at 
any  rate  7°,  westward  in  the  six  days  and  nights.  As- 
suming that  the  drift  was  the  same  during  the  five  days 
and  nights  between  the  8th  and  13th,  we  then  get  7° 
farther  west  than  we  suppose.  We  should  consequently 
now  be  in  54"  E.,  instead  of  in  61°  E.,  and  not  more 
than  36  to  40  miles  from  Cape  Fligely,  and  close  by 
Oscars  Land.  We  ous^ht  to  see  somethinor  of  them,  I 
think.  Let  us  assume  meanwhile  that  the  drift  west- 
ward was  strong  in  the  period  before  April  2d  also,  and 
grant  the  possibility  that  my  watch  did  stop  at  that  time 
(which,  I  fear,  is  not  excluded),  and  we  may  then  be  any 
distance  west  for  all  we  can  tell.  It  is  this  possibility 
which  I  begin  to  think  of  more  and  more.  Meanwhile, 
apparently  there  is  nothing  for  it  but  to  continue  as  we 
have  done  already — perhaps  a  little  more  south — and  a 
solution  must  come. 

"  When,  after  having  concluded  my  calculations,  I  had 


270  FARTHEST  NORTH 

taken  a  nap  and  again  turned  out  at  midday  to-day,  the 
condition  of  the  snow  proved  to  be  no  better;  in  fact, 
rather  worse.  The  new  snow  was  wet  and  sticky  and 
the  going  as  heavy  as  it  well  could  be.  However,  it 
was  necessary  to  make  an  attempt  to  get  on ;  there  was 
nothing  gained  by  waiting  there,  and  progress  is  prog- 
ress be  it  ever  so  little. 

"  I  took  a  single  altitude  about  midday,  but  it  was  not 
sharp. 

•"Saturday,  June  15th.  The  middle  of  June,  and  still 
no  prospect  of  an  end  to  this ;  things  only  became  worse 
instead.  So  bad  as  yesterday,  though,  it  had  never 
been,  and  worse,  happily,  it  can  hardly  be.  The  sledges 
ran  terribly  heavy  in  the  loose,  wet,  newly  fallen  snow, 
which  was  deep  to  boot ;  and  sometimes  when  they 
stopped  —  and  that  was  continually — they  stuck  as  if 
glued  to  the  spot.  It  was  all  we  could  do  to  move  them 
when  we  pushed  with  all  our  might.  Then  to  this  was 
added  the  fact  that  one's  snow-shoes  ran  equally  badly, 
and  masses  of  snow  collected  underneath  them  the 
minute  one  stopped ;  one's  feet  kept  twisting  continually 
from  this,  and  ice  formed  under  them,  so  that  one  sud- 
denly slid  off  the  snow-shoes  and  into  the  snow,  till  far 
above  one's  knees,  when  one  tried  to  pull  or  help  the 
sledges ;  but  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  scramble 
up  and  on  to  them  again.  To  wade  along  in  such  snow 
without  them  is  an  impossibility,  and,  as  I  have  said 
before,  though  fastening   them   on   securely  would   have 


BY  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  271 

been  a  better  plan,  yet  it  would  have  been  too  trouble- 
some, seeing  that  we  had  to  take  them  off  continually  to 
get  the  sledges  over  ridges  and  lanes.  In  addition  to  all 
this,  wherever  one  turns,  the  ice  is  uneven  and  full  of 
mounds  and  old  ridges,  and  it  is  only  by  wriggling  along 
like  an  eel,  so  to  speak,  that  one  can  get  on  at  all. 
There  are  lanes,  too,  and  they  compel  one  to  make 
long  detours  or  go  long  distances  over  thin,  small  floes, 
ridges,  and  other  abominations.  We  struggled  along, 
however,  a  little  way,  working  on  our  old  plan  of  two 
turns,  but  a  quick  method  it  could  not  be  called. 
The  dogs  are  becoming  more  and  more  worn  out. 
'  Lilleraeven,'  the  last  survivor  of  my  team,  can  now 
hardly  walk — hauling  there  is  no  question  of:  he  stag- 
gers like  a  drunken  man,  and  when  he  falls  can  hardly 
rise  to  his  feet  again.  To-day  he  is  going  to  be  killed, 
I  am  thankful  to  say,  and  one  will  be  spared  seeing 
him.  '  Storraeven,'  too,  is  getting  very  slack  in  the 
traces;  the  only  one  of  mine  which  pulls  at  all  is  '  Kaifas,' 
and  that  is  only  as  long  as  one  of  us  is  helping  behind. 
To  keep  on  longer  in  such  circumstances  is  only  wear- 
ing out  men  and  dogs  to  no  purpose,  and  is  also  using 
up  more  provender  than  is  necessary.  We  therefore  re- 
nounced dinner,  and  halted  at  about  ten  yesterday  even- 
ing, after  having  begun  the  march  at  half -past  four 
in  the  afternoon.  I  had,  however,  stopped  to  take  an 
observation  on  the  way.  It  is  not  easy  to  get  hold  of 
the  sun   nowadays,  and  one  must  make  the  most  of  him 


272  FARTHEST  NORTH 

when  he  is  to  be  seen  through  the  driving  clouds ;  clear 
he  will  never  be.  Yesterday  afternoon,  after  an  uncon- 
scionable wait,  and  after  having  put  up  the  instrument 
in  vain  a  couple  of  times,  I  finally  got  a  wretched  single 
altitude. 

"  Yesterday  evening  I  reckoned  out  these  observa- 
tions and  find  that,  contrary  to  our  expectations,  we 
have  drifted  strongly  westward,  having  come  from  6i° 
1 6'  E.,  which  was  our  longitude  on  June  4th,  right  to 
about  57°  40'  E.  But  then  we  have  also  drifted  a 
good  way  north  again,  up  to  82°  26'  N.,  after  being 
down  in  82°  17.8'  on  the  same  date,  and  we  have  been 
pushing  southward  as  hard  as  we  could  the  whole  time. 
However,  we  are  glad  to  see  that  there  is  so  much  move- 
ment in  the  ice,  for  then  there  is  hope  of  our  drifting 
out  eventually  towards  open  water ;  for  that  we  can  get 
there  by  our  own  efforts  alone  over  this  shocking  ice  I 
am  beginning  to  doubt.  This  country  and  this  going 
are  too  bad,  and  my  hope  now  is  in  lanes  and  slack  ice. 
Happily,  a  northeast  wind  has  sprung  up.  Yesterday 
there  was  a  fresh  breeze  from  the  north-northwest  (mag- 
netic), and  the  same  again  to-day.  Only  let  it  blow  on ; 
if  it  has  set  us  northwest  it  can  also  set  us  southwest, 
and  eventually  out  towards  our  goal  —  towards  Franz 
Josef  Land  or  Spitzbergen.  I  doubt  more  than  ever 
our  being  east  of  Cape  Fligely  after  this  observation, 
and  I  begin  to  believe  more  and  more  in  the  possibility 
that  the   first   land  we  shall  see  —  if  we  see  any,  and   I 


BY  SLEDGE  AND   KAYAK  273 

hope  we  may — will  be  Spitzbergen.  In  that  case  we 
should  not  even  get  a  glimpse  of  Franz  Josef  Land, 
the  land  of  which  I  have  dreamed  golden  dreams 
day  and  night.  But  still,  if  it  is  not  to  be,  then  well  and 
good.  Spitzbergen  is  good  enough,  and  if  we  are  as  far 
west  as  we  seem  to  be,  I  have  greater  hope  than  before 
of  finding  slacker  ice  and  open  water;  and  then  for 
Spitzbergen !  But  there  is  still  a  serious  question  to 
be  faced,  and  that  is  to  procure  ourselves  enough  food 
for  the  journey. 

"  I  have  slept  here  some  time  on  purpose,  after  hav- 
ing spent  a  good  while  on  my  calculations  and  specula- 
tions as  to  our  drift  and  our  future.  We  have  nothing 
to  hurry  for  in  this  state  of  the  snow;  it  is  hardly  better 
to-day  than  it  was  yesterday,  and  then,  on  account  of 
the  mild  temperature,  it  is  better  to  travel  by  night  than 
by  day.  The  best  thing  to  do  is  to  spin  out  the  time 
as  long  as  possible  without  consuming  more  than  abso- 
lutely necessary  of  the  provisions;  the  summer  cannot 
but  improve  matters,  and  we  have  still  three  months 
of  it  before  us.  The  question  is,  can  we  procure  our- 
selves food  durin^  that  time  ?  It  would  be  stran2:e,  I 
think,  if  we  could  not.  There  are  birds  about  continu- 
ally ;  I  saw  another  large  gull  yesterday,  probably  the 
herring  or  silver  gull  {Larus  argentatus)\  but  to  sup- 
port life  for  any  length  of  time  on  such  small  fry  we 
have  not   cartridges   enough.      On   seal  or  bear    all   my 

hopes    are   fixed ;    just    one   before    our  provisions    give 

II.— 18 


274  FARTHEST  NORTH 

out,  and  the  evil  hour  is  warded  off  for  a  long  time  to 
come. 

"Sunday,  June  i6th.  Yesterday  was  as  bad  as  it 
well  could  be — the  surface  enough  to  make  one  desper- 
ate and  the  ice  rough.  I  very  much  doubted  whether 
the  wisest  thing  would  not  be  to  kill  the  dogs  and  keep 
them  as  food  for  ourselves,  and  try  to  make  our  way  on 
as  best  we  could  without  them.  In  that  manner  we 
should  have  provender  for  fifteen  or  perhaps  twenty  days 
longer,  and  should  be  able  to  make  some  progress  at 
the  same  time.  There  does  not  seem  much  to  be  done 
in  that  line,  however,  and  perhaps  the  right  thing  to 
do  is  to  wait.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  perhaps,  it  is 
not  far  to  land  or  open  water,  or,  at  any  rate,  to  slack 
ice,  and  then  every  mile  we  can  make  southward  is  of 
importance.  I  have  therefore  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  we  must  use  the  dogs  to  get  on  with  as  best  we 
can — perhaps  there  will  be  a  change  before  we  expect  it ; 
if  nothing  else,  then,  perhaps,  some  better  ice,  like  that 
we  had  before.  Meanwhile  we  were  obliged  to  kill 
two  dogs  yesterday.  '  Lillerseven  '  could  hardly  go  when 
we  started ;  his  legs  seemed  to  be  quite  paralyzed,  and 
he  fell  down  and  could  not  get  up  again.  After  I  had 
dragged  him  and  the  sledge  for  a  time  and  had  tried  in 
vain  to  make  him  go,  I  had  to  put  him  on  the  load,  and 
when  we  came  to  some  hummocks  where  there  was 
shelter  from  the  north  wind,  Johansen  killed  him,  while  I 
went  forward  to  find  a  way.     Meanwhile  my  other  dog. 


BY  SLEDGE   AND    KAYAK  275 

'  Storraev^en,'  was  in  almost  as  bad  a  plight.  Haul  he 
could  not,  and  the  difficulty  was  to  make  him  go  on  so 
that  he  was  not  dragged  with  the  sledge.  He  went  a 
little  way,  stumbling  and  falling,  and  being  helped  up 
repeatedly ;  but  soon  he  was  just  as  bad  as  '  Lilleraeven " 
had  been,  lagged  behind,  got  the  traces  under  the  sledge 
runners,  and  was  dragged  with  it  As  I  thought  I  had 
enough  to  do  in  hauling  the  sledge,  I  let  him  go,  in  the 
hope  that  he  would,  at  any  rate,  follow  us.  He  did  so 
for  a  little  while,  but  then  stopped  behind,  and  Johansen 
was  compelled  to  fetch  him  and  put  him  on  his  load,  and 
when  we  camped  he  was  killed  too. 

" '  Kaifas '  is  the  only  dog  I  have  left  to  help  me  haul 
my  sledge,  and  Johansen  has  '  Haren'  and  '  Suggen.'  We 
have  rations  for  them  for  ten  days  from  the  two  slaugh- 
tered dogs,  but  how  far  we  shall  be  able  to  get  with  them 
the  gods  alone  know.  Not  very  far,  I  am  afraid.  Mean- 
while our  hitherto  somewhat  primitive  method  of  hauling 
had  to  be  improved  on.  With  two  dog-harnesses  we  ac- 
cordingly made  ourselves  proper  hauling-gear,*  and  there- 

*  A  proper  hauling  harness  is  an  important  item,  and  in  the  long  run 
is  much  less  trying  than  the  ordinary  hauling  strap  or  rope  crosswise  over 
the  chest  and  one  shoulder.  The  form  of  harness  I  use  consists  of  two 
straps,  which  are  passed  over  both  shoulders,  like  the  straps  of  a  knap- 
sack, and  are  fastened  crosswise  over  the  back  to  a  leather  belt,  where 
the  hauling-rope  from  the  sledge  is  also  attached.  It  is  thus  in  one's 
power  during  the  work  of  hauling  to  distribute  the  strain  equally  between 
both  shoulders  and  the  belt  {i.e.,  the  thighs  and  abdomen).  The  hauling 
'centre  of  gravity"  is  in  this  manner  lower  in  the  body,  just  above  the 
legs,  which  do  the  work,  and  the  hauling-rope  does  not,  as  is  usually  the 
case,  press  only  on  the  upper  part  of  the  body. 


276  FARTHEST  NORTH 

with  all  idea  of  using  snow-shoes  not  securely  fastened  on 
had  to  be  abandoned.  One's  feet  twisted  and  slipped  and 
slid  off  the  snow-shoes  and  deep  down  into  the  bottomless 
snow,  which,  in  addition,  turned  to  ice  under  our  feet,  and 
with  our  smooth  komager  soles  was  as  slippery  as  eelskin 
to  stand  on.  Then  we  fastened  them  on,  and  where  the 
ice  was  even  it  really  was  possible  to  drag  the  sledge,  even 
with  only  one  dog  beside  one.  I  saw  that,  given  passable 
snow  and  passable  country  to  work  on,  we  could  make 
some  progress  during  the  day,  though  as  soon  as  there 
was  the  slightest  irregularity  in  the  ice  the  sledges  stood 
perfectly  still.  It  was  necessary  to  strain  at  the  harness 
all  one  knew,  and  then  perhaps  fail  to  make  the  sledge 
budge  an  inch.  Then  back  one  had  to  go  to  it,  and  after 
exerting  one's  strength  to  the  utmost  it  would  finally 
glide  over  the  obstacle  and  on  towards  a  new  one,  where 
exactly  the  same  process  had  to  be  gone  through.  If  it 
was  wished  to  turn  the  sledge  in  the  deep  snow  w^here  it 
stood  embedded,  matters  were  no  better;  it  was  only  by 
lifting  it  bodily  that  one  could  get  it  on  at  all.  So  we 
went  on  step  by  step  until  perhaps  we  came  on  a  small 
extent  of  level  ice  where  we  could  increase  the  pace.  If, 
however,  we  came  on  lanes  and  ridges,  things  were  worse 
than  ever;  one  man  cannot  manage  a  sledge  alone,  but 
two  must  be  put  to  each  sledge.  Then  when  we  have 
followed  up  the  track  I  have  marked  out  beforehand  I 
have  to  start  off  again  and  find  a  way  between  the 
hummocks.      To   go   direct,   hauling    the    sledge,  is  not 


^f^ 


SUGGEN 


KAIFAS 


BV  SLEDGE   AXD   KAYAK  279 

advisable  where  the  ice  is  uneven,  as  it  only  means  o-et- 
ting  into  difficulties  and  being  constrained  eventually 
to  turn  back.  In  this  way  we  are  grinding  along,  but  it 
goes  without  saying  that  speed  and  long  marches  are  not 
the  order  of  the  day.  But  still,  as  it  is  we  make  a  little 
way,  and  that  is  better  than  nothing ;  it  is,  besides,  the 
only  thing  we  can  do,  seeing  that  it  is  impossible  to  crawl 
into  a  lair  and  hibernate  for  a  month  or  so  till  progress  is 
possible  again. 

"  To  judge  by  the  sky,  there  must  be  a  number  of 
lanes  in  the  south  and  southwest.  Perhaps  our  trying 
mode  of  advance  is  leading  us  to  something  better.  We 
began  at  about  ten  yesterday  evening,  and  stopped  at  six 
this  morning.  We  have  not  had  dinner  the  last  few  days, 
in  order  to  save  a  meal,  as  we  do  not  think  this  ice  and  our 
progress  generally  are  worth  much  food.  With  the  same 
object,  we  this  morning  collected  the  blood  of  'Storreeven' 
and  converted  it  into  a  sort  of  porridge  instead  of  the 
'  fiskegratin.'  It  was  good,  even  if  it  was  only  dog's 
blood,  and  at  any  rate  we  have  a  portion  of  fish  flour  to 
the  good.  Before  we  turned  into  the  bag  last  night  we 
inspected  our  cartridges,  and  found,  to  our  joy,  that  we 
had  148  shot-gun  cartridges,  181  rifle  cartridges,  and  in 
addition  14  spherical -shot  cartridges.  With  so  much 
ammunition,  we  should  be  able  to  increase  our  provisions 
for  some  time  to  come,  if  necessary ;  for  if  nothing  else 
should  fall  to  our  guns  there  would  always  be  birds,  and 
148  birds  will  go  a  long  way.      If  we  use   half -charges 


28o  FARTHEST  NORTH 

we  can  eke  out  our  ammunition  still  further.  We  have, 
moreover,  half  a  pound  of  gunpowder  and  some  spherical 
shot  for  the  rifles,  also  caps  for  reloading  the  cartridges. 
This  discovery  has  put  me  in  good  spirits,  for,  truth  to 
tell,  I  did  not  think  our  prospects  were  inordinately 
bright.  We  shall  now,  perhaps,  be  able  to  manage  for 
three  months,  and  within  that  time  something  must  hap- 
pen. In  addition  to  what  we  can  shoot,  we  can  also 
catch  gulls  with  a  hook,  and  if  the  worst  should  come  to 
the  worst,  and  we  set  seriously  to  work,  we  can  probably 
take  some  animalcula  and  the  like  with  the  net.  It  may 
happen  that  we  shall  not  get  to  Spitzbergen  in  time  to 
find  a  vessel,  and  must  winter  there,  but  it  will  be  a  life 
of  luxury  compared  with  this  in  the  drift-ice,  not  knowing 
where  we  are  nor  whither  drifting,  and  not  seeing  our 
goal,  be  it  never  so  far  away.  I  should  not  like  to  have 
this  time  over  again.  We  have  paid  dearly  for  letting 
our  watches  run  down  that  time.  If  there  was  no  one 
waiting  at  home,  a  winter  in  Spitzbergen  would  be  quite 
enticing.  I  lie  here  and  dream  of  how  comfortably  and 
well  we  could  manage  there.  Everything  outside  of  this 
ice  seems  rosy,  and  out  of  it  we  shall  be  some  time  or 
other.  We  must  comfort  ourselves  with  the  adage  that 
nio-ht  is  darkest  before  the  dawn.  Of  course  it  somewhat 
depends  on  hozv  dark  the  night  is  to  be,  and  considerably 
darker  than  it  is  now  it  might  very  well  be.  But  our 
hopes  are  fixed  on  the  summer.  Yes,  it  must  be  better 
as  summer  gradually  comes  on." 


BY  SLEDGE   AXD   KAYAK  28 1 

So  on  we  went  forward ;  and  day  after  day  we  were 
going  through  exactly  the  same  toil,  in  the  same  heavy 
snow,  in  which  the  sledges  stuck  fast  ceaselessly.  Doo-s 
and  men  did  their  best,  but  with  little  effect,  and  in  ad- 
dition we  began  to  be  uneasy  as  to  our  means  of  sub- 
sistence. The  dogs'  rations  were  reduced  to  a  minimum, 
to  enable  us  to  keep  life  going  as  long  as  possible.  We 
were  hungry  and  toil-worn  from  morning  to  night  and 
from  night  to  morning,  all  five  of  us.  We  determined  to 
shoot  whatever  came  in  our  way,  even  gulls  and  fulmars ; 
but  now,  of  course,  none  of  this  game  ever  came  within 
range. 

The  lanes  grew  worse  and  worse,  filled  generally  with 
slush  and  brash.  We  were  often  compelled  to  go  long 
distances  over  nothing  but  small  pieces,  where  one  went 
through  continually.  On  June  i8th  "a  strong  wind  from 
the  west  (magnetic)  sprang  up,  which  tears  and  rattles  at 
the  tent.  We  are  going  back,  I  suppose,  whence  we  came, 
only  farther  north  perhaps.  So  we  are  buffeted  by  wind 
and  current,  and  so  it  will  go  on,  perhaps,  the  whole  sum- 
mer throuQ^h,  without  our  beins^  able  to  master  it."  A 
meridian  altitude  that  day  made  us  in  82''  19'  N.,  so  we 
had  come  down  again  a  little.  I  saw  and  shot  a  couple  of 
fulmars  and  a  Briinnich's  guillemot  {Uria  druniiickii),^nd 
these  eked  out  our  rations;  but,  to  our  distress,  I  fired  at  a 
couple  of  seals  in  the  lanes  and  missed  my  mark.  How 
we  wished  we  could  get  hold  of  such  a  prize !  "  Meanwhile 
there  is  a  good  deal  of  life  here  now,"  I  write  on  June  20th. 


282  FARTHEST  NORTH 

"  Little  auks  fly  backward  and  forward  in  numbers,  and 
they  sit  and  chatter  and  show  themselves  just  outside  the 
tent  door ;  it  is  quite  a  pleasure  to  see  them,  but  a  pity 
they  are  so  small  that  they  are  not  worth  a  shot.  We 
have  not  seen  them  in  flocks  yet,  but  in  couples,  as  a 
rule.  It  is  remarkable  how  bird-life  has  increased  since 
the  west  wind  set  in  the  day  before  yesterday.  It  is  par- 
ticularly striking  how  the  little  auks  have  suddenly  ap- 
peared in  myriads;  they  whiz  past  the  tent  here  with 
their  cheery  twitter,  and  it  gives  one  the  feeling  of  hav- 
ing come  down  to  more  hospitable  regions.  This  sud- 
den finding  of  Briinnich's  guillemots  seems  also  curi- 
ous, but  it  does  no  good.  Land  is  not  to  be  descried, 
and  the  snow  is  in  as  wretched  a  condition  as  it  can  be. 
A  proper  thaw,  so  that  the  snow  can  disappear  more 
quickly,  does  not  come.  Yesterday  morning  before 
breakfast  I  went  for  a  walk  southward  to  see  what  were 
our  chances  of  advance.  The  ice  was  flat  and  good  for 
a  little  way,  but  lanes  soon  began  which  were  worse  than 
ever.  Our  only  expedient  now  is  to  resort  to  strong 
measures  and  launch  the  kayaks,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
they  leak ;  we  must  then  travel  as  much  as  possible  by 
way  of  the  lanes,  and  with  this  resolution  I  turn  back. 
The  snow  is  still  the  same,  very  wet,  so  that  one  sank 
deep  in  between  the  hummocks,  and  there  are  plenty  of 
them.  We  could  not  afford  a  proper  breakfast,  so  we 
took  if  ounces  bread  and  if  ounces  pemmican  per  man, 
and  then  set  to  work   to  mend  the  pumps  and  put  the 


BV  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  283 

kayaks  in  order  for  ferrying,  so  that  their  contents  should 
not  be  spoiled  by  water  leaking  in.  Among  other  things, 
a  hole  had  to  be  patched  in  mine,  which  I  had  not  seen 
before. 

"  We  had  a  frugal  supper — 2  ounces  aleuronate  bread 
and  I  ounce  butter  per  man — and  crept  into  the  bag  to 
sleep  as  long  as  possible  and  kill  the  time  without  eating. 
The  only  thing  to  be  done  is  to  try  and  hold  out  till  the 
snow  has  melted  and  advance  is  more  practicable.  At 
one  in  the  afternoon  w^e  turned  out  to  a  rather  more 
abundant  breakfast  of  '  fiskegratin,'  but  w^e  do  not  dare  to 
eat  as  much  as  we  require  any  longer.  We  are  looking 
forward  to  trying  our  new  tactics,  and  instead  of  at- 
tempting to  conquer  nature,  obeying  her  and  taking 
advantage  of  the  lanes.  We  must  get  some  way,  at  any 
rate,  by  this  means ;  and  the  farther  south  the  more 
prospect  of  lanes  and  the  greater  chance  of  something 
falling  to  our  guns. 

"  Otherwise  it  is  a  dull  existence  enough,  no  prospect 
for  the  moment  of  being  able  to  get  on,  impassable 
packed  ice  in  every  direction,  rapidly  diminishing  pro- 
visions, and  now,  too,  nothing  to  be  caught  or  shot.  An 
attempt  I  made  at  fishing  with  the  net  failed  entirely — a 
pteropod  {Clio  borealis)  and  a  few  Crustacea  were  the 
whole  result.  I  lie  awake  at  night  by  the  hour  racking 
my  brain  to  find  a  way  out  of  our  difficulties.  Well, 
well,  there  will  be  one  eventually ! 

"Saturday,  June  22d.     Half-past  9  a.m.  ;  after  a  good 


284  FARTHEST  NORTH 

breakfast  of  seal's  -  flesh,  seal  -  liver,  blubber,  and  soup, 
here  I  lie  dreaming  dreams  of  brightness;  life  is  all 
sunshine  again.  What  a  little  incident  is  necessary  to 
change  the  whole  aspect  of  affairs  !  Yesterday  and  the 
last  few  days  were  dull  and  gloomy ;  everything  seemed 
hopeless,  the  ice  impassable,  no  game  to  be  found ;  and 
then  comes  the  incident  of  a  seal  rising  near  our  kayaks 
and  rolling  about  round  us.  Johansen  has  time  to  give  it 
a  ball  just  as  it  is  disappearing,  and  it  floats  while  I  har- 
poon it — the  first  and  only  bearded  seal  {Pkoca  barbata) 
we  have  seen  yet — and  we  have  abundance  of  food  and 
fuel  for  upward  of  a  month.  We  need  hurry  no  longer ; 
we  can  settle  down,  adapt  the  kayaks  and  sledges  better 
for  ferrying  over  the  lanes,  capture  seals  if  possible,  and 
await  a  change  in  the  state  of  the  ice.  We  have  eaten 
our  fill  both  at  supper  and  breakfast,  after  being  raven- 
ous for  many  days.  The  future  seems  bright  and  certain 
now ;  no  clouds  of  darkness  to  be  seen  any  longer. 

"  It  was  hardly  with  great  expectations  that  we 
started  off  on  Tuesday  evening.  A  hard  crust  which 
had  formed  on  the  top  of  the  soft  snow  did  not  improve 
matters ;  the  sledges  often  cut  through  this,  and  were 
not  to  be  moved  before  one  lifted  them  forward  again, 
and  when  it  was  a  case  of  turning  amid  the  uneven  ice 
they  stuck  fast  in  the  crust.  The  ice  was  uneven  and 
bad,  and  the  snow  loose  and  water-soaked,  so  that,  even 
with  snow-shoes  on,  we  sank  deep  into  it  ourselves. 
There  were  lanes  besides,  and  though  tolerably  easy  to 


BY  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  285 

cross,  as  they  were  often  packed  together,  they  necessi- 
tated a  winding  route.  We  saw  clearly  that  to  continue 
in  this  way  was  impossible.  The  only  resource  was  to 
disburden  ourselves  of  everything  which  could  in  any 
way  be  dispensed  with,  and  start  afresh  as  quickly  as  we 
could,  with  only  provisions,  kayaks,  guns,  and  the  most 
necessary  clothing,  in  order,  at  any  rate,  to  reach  land 
before  our  last  crumb  of  food  was  eaten  up.  We  went 
over  the  things  to  see  what  we  could  part  with  ;  the 
medicine-bag,  the  spare  horizontal  bars  belonging  to  the 
sledees,  reserve  snow-shoes  and  thick,  rough  socks, 
soiled  shirts,  and  the  tent.  When  it  came  to  the  sleep- 
ing-bag we  drew  a  long  sigh,  but,  wet  and  heavy  as  it 
always  is  now,  that  had  to  go  too.  We  had,  moreover, 
to  contrive  wooden  grips  under  the  kayaks,  so  that  we 
can  without  further  trouble  set  the  whole  thing  afloat 
when  we  have  to  cross  a  lane  and  be  able  to  drag  the 
sledges  up  on  the  other  side  and  go  on  at  once.  If  it 
should  then,  as  now,  be  impossible  for  us  to  launch  the 
sledges,  because  sleeping-bag,  clothes,  and  sacks  of 
provender,  etc.,  are  lying  on  them  as  a  soft  dunnage 
for  the  kayaks,  it  will  take  too  much  time.  At  every 
lane  we  should  be  obliged  to  unlash  the  loads,  lift  the 
kayaks  off  the  sledges  and  into  the  water,  lash  them 
together  there,  then  place  the  sledges  across  them,  and 
finally  go  through  the  same  manoeuvres  in  inverse  order 
on  the  other  side.  We  should  not  get  very  far  in  the 
day  in  that  manner. 


286 


FARTHEST  NORTH 


"  Firmly  determined  to  make  these  alterations,  the 
very  next  day  we  started  off.  We  soon  came  to  a  long 
pool,  which  it  was  necessary  to  ferry  over.  The  kayaks 
were  soon  launched  and  lying  side  by  side  on  the  water, 
well  stiffened,  with  the  snow-shoes  under  the  straps,*  a 
thoroughly  steady  fleet.  Then  the  sledges,  with  their 
loads,  were  run  out  to  them,  one  forward,  one  astern.  We 
had  been  concerned  about  the  dogs  and  how  we  should 
get  them  to  go  with  us,  but  they  followed  the  sledges  out 
on  to  the  kayaks  and  lay  down  as  if  they  had  done 
nothing  else  all  their  lives.  '  Kaifas '  seated  himself  in 
the  bow  of  my  kayak,  and  the  two  others  astern. 

"A  seal  had  come  up  near  us  while  we  were  occupied 
with  all  this,  but  I  thought  to  wait  before  shooting  it  till 
the  kayaks  were  ready,  and  thus  be  certain  of  getting  it 
before  it  sank.  Of  course  it  did  not  show  itself  again. 
These  seals  seem  to  be  enchanted,  and  as  if  they  were 
only  sent  to  delay  us.  Twice  that  day  before  I  had  seen 
them  and  watched  for  them  to  appear  again  in  vain.  I 
had  even  achieved  missing  one — the  third  time  I  have 
missed  my  mark.  It  looks  bad  for  the  ammunition  if  I 
am  going  on  like  this,  but  I  have  discovered  that  I  aimed 
too  hi2:h  for  these  short  ranores,  and  had  shot  over  them. 
So  then  we  set  off  across  the  blue  waves  on  our  first  lone 


& 


*  Certain  straps  which  are  fixed  on  the  kayalc,  just  in  front  of  the 
occupant,  and  through  which  the  paddle  is  passed  when  shooting,  etc. 
The  blade  thus  lying  laterally  on  the  water  very  much  increases  the 
steadiness  of  the  occupants. 


V\ 

■A 

1 

i 

BY  SLEDGE   AXD    KAYAK  289 

voyage.    A  highly  remarkable  convoy  we  must  have  been, 

laden  as  we  were  with  sledges,  sacks,  guns,  and  dogs ;  a 

tribe  of  gypsies,  Johansen  said  it  was.     If  any  one  had 

suddenly  come  upon  us  then,  he  would  hardly  have  known 

what  to  make  of  the  troupe,  and  certainly  would  not  have 

taken    us   for   polar    explorers.      Paddling    between    the 

sledges  and  the  snow-shoes,  which  projected  far  out  on 

either  side,  was  not  easy  w'ork ;  but  we  managed  to  get 

along,  and  were  soon  of  the  opinion  that  w^e  should  think 

ourselves  lucky  could  we  go  on  like  this  the  whole  day, 

instead  of  hauling  and  wading  through  the  snow\     Our 

kayaks   could   hardly   have   been   called   water-tight,  and 

we   had   recourse   to  the  pumps  several   times;   but  we 

could  easily  have  reconciled  ourselves  to  that,  and  only 

wished  we  had  more  open  water  to  travel  over.     At  last 

we  reached  the  end  of  the  pool;  I  jumped  ashore  on  the 

edge    of   the   ice,  to   pull   up  the  kayaks,   and  suddenly 

heard  a  great  splash  beside  us.     It  was  a  seal  which  had 

been   lying  there.     Soon    afterwards    I    heard   a  similar 

splash  on  the  other  side,  and  then  for  the  third  time  a 

huge    head  appeared,  blowing  and  swimming  backward 

and  forward,  but,  alas !  only  to  dive  deep  under  the  edge 

of  the  ice  before  we  had  time  to  get  the  guns  out.    It  was 

a  fine,  large  blue  or  bearded  seal  {Pkoca  barbata). 

"  We  were  quite  sure  that  it  had  disappeared  for  good, 

but  no  sooner  had  I  got  one  of  the  sledges  half-way  up 

the   side   than   the  immense   head  came  up  again  close 

beside  the  kayaks,  blowing  and  repeating  the  same  ma- 
il.—19 


290  FARTHEST  NORTH 

noeuvres  as  before.  I  looked  round  for  my  gun,  but 
could  not  reach  it  where  it  was  lying  on  the  kayak. 
'Take  the  gun,  Johansen,  quick,  and  blaze  away;  but 
quick !  look  sharp,  quick  !'  In  a  moment  he  had  thrown 
the  gun  to  his  cheek,  and  just  as  the  seal  was  on  the 
point  of  disappearing  under  the  edge  I  heard  the  report. 
The  animal  made  a  little  turn,  and  then  lay  floating, 
the  blood  flowing  from  its  head.  I  dropped  the  sledge, 
seized  the  harpoon,  and,  quick  as  lightning,  threw  it  deep 
into  the  fat  back  of  the  seal,  which  lay  quivering  on  the 
surface  of  the  water.  Then  it  began  to  move ;  there  was 
still  life  in  it ;  and,  anxious  lest  the  harpoon  with  its 
thin  line  should  not  hold  if  the  huge  animal  began  to 
quicken  in  earnest,  I  pulled  my  knife  out  of  its  sheath 
and  stuck  it  into  the  seal's  throat,  whence  a  stream  of 
blood  came  flowing  out.  The  water  was  red  with  it  for 
a  long  distance,  and  it  made  one  quite  sorry  to  see  the 
wherewithal  for  a  good  meal  being  wasted  like  this.  But 
there  was  nothing  to  be  done;  not  on  any  account  would 
I  lose  that  animal,  and  for  the  sake  of  safety  gave  it 
another  harpoon.  Meanwhile  the  sledge,  which  had  been 
half  dragged  up  on  to  the  ice,  slid  down  again,  and  the 
kayaks,  with  Johansen  and  the  dogs,  came  adrift.  He 
tried  to  pull  the  sledge  up  on  to  the  kayak,  but  without 
success,  and  so  it  remained  with  one  end  in  the  water 
and  one  on  the  canoe.  It  heeled  the  whole  fleet  over, 
and  Johansen's  kayak  canted  till  one  side  was  in  the 
water;  it  leaked,  moreover,  like  a  sieve,  and  the  water 


BY  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  291 

rose  in  it  with  alarming  rapidity.  The  cooker,  which  was 
on  the  deck,  fell  off,  and  drifted  gayly  away  before  the 
wind  with  all  its  valuable  contents,  borne  high  up  in  the 
water  by  the  aluminium  cap,  which  happily  was  water- 
tight. The  '  ski '  fell  off  and  floated  about,  and  the  fleet 
sank  deeper  and  deeper  in.  Meanwhile  I  stood  holding 
our  precious  prize,  not  daring  to  let  go.  The  whole 
thing  was  a  scene  of  the  most  complete  dissolution. 
Johansen's  kayak  had  by  this  time  heeled  over  to  such 
an  extent  that  the  water  reached  the  open  seam  on  the 
deck,  and  the  craft  filled  immediately.  I  had  no  choice 
left  but  to  let  go  the  seal  and  drag  up  the  kayak  be- 
fore it  sank.  This  done,  heavy  as  it  was  and  full  of 
water,  the  seal's  turn  came  next,  and  this  was  much 
worse.  We  had  our  work  cut  out  to  haul  the  immense 
animal  hand  over  hand  up  on  to  the  ice ;  but  our  rejoic- 
ino-s  were  loud  when  we  at  last  succeeded,  and  we  al- 
most  fell  to  dancing  round  it  in  the  excess  of  our  de- 
light. A  water-logged  kayak  and  soaked  effects  we 
thought  nothing  of  at  such  a  supreme  moment.  Here 
were  food  and  fuel  for  a  long  time. 

"  Then  came  the  rescuing  and  drying  of  our  things. 
First  and  foremost,  of  course,  the  ammunition ;  it  was 
all  our  stock.  But  happily  the  cartridges  were  fairly 
water-tight,  and  had  not  suffered  much  damage.  Even 
the  shot  cartridges,  the  cases  of  which  were  of  paper, 
had  not  lain  long  enough  to  become  wholly  permeated. 
Such,  however,  was  not  the  case  with  a  supply  of  powder ; 


292  FARTHEST  NORTH 

the  small  tin  box  in  which  we  kept  it  was  entirely  full  of 
water.  The  other  things  were  not  so  important,  though 
it  was  hardly  a  comforting  discovery  to  find  that  the 
bread  was  soaked  through  with  salt-water. 

"  We  found  a  camping-ground  not  far  off.  The  tent 
was  soon  pitched,  our  catch  cut  up  and  placed  in  safety, 
and,  I  may  say,  seldom  has  the  drift-ice  housed  beings 
so  well  satisfied  as  the  two  who  sat  that  morning  in  the 
bag  and  feasted  on  seal's  flesh,  blubber,  and  soup  as  long 
as  they  had  any  room  to  stow  it  in.  We  concurred  in 
the  opinion  that  a  better  meal  we  could  not  have  had. 
Then  down  we  crawled  into  the  dear  bag,  which  for  the 
present  there  was  no  need  to  part  with,  and  slept  the 
sleep  of  the  just  in  the  knowledge  that  for  the  immediate 
future,  at  any  rate,  we  need  have  no  anxiety. 

"  It  is  my  opinion  that  for  the  time  being  we  can  do 
nothinsf  better  than  remain  where  we  are,  live  on  our 
catch,  without  encroaching  on  the  sledge  provisions,  and 
thus  await  the  time  when  the  ice  shall  slacken  more  or 
the  condition  of  the  snow  improve.  Meanw^iile  we  will 
rig  up  wooden  grips  on  our  sledges,  and  try  to  make  the 
kayaks  water-tight.  Furthermore,  we  will  lighten  our 
equipment  as  much  as  we  possibly  can.  If  we  were  to 
go  on  we  should  only  be  obliged  to  leave  a  great  deal 
of  our  meat  and  blubber  behind  us,  and  this,  in  these 
circumstances,  I  think  would  be  madness. 

"  Sunday,  June  23d.  So  this  is  St.-John's-eve,  and 
Sunday,  too.     How  merry  and  happy  all  the  schoolboys 


JOHANSEN    SITTING    IN    THE    SLEEPING    BAG    IN    THE    HUT 


BY  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  -95 

are  to-day!  how  the  folk  at  home  are  starting  forth  in 
crowds  to  the  beautiful  Norwegian  woods  and  valleys!  .  .  . 
And  here  are  we  still  in  the  drift-ice;  cooking  and  frying 
with  blubber,  eating  it  and  seal's  flesh  until  the  train-oil 
drips  off  us,  and,  above  all,  not  knowing  when  there  will 
be  an  end  to  it  all.  Perhaps  we  still  have  a  winter  before 
us.  I  could  hardly  have  conceived  that  we  should  be 
here  now! 

"  It  is  a   pleasing  change,  however,  after  having  re- 
duced our  rations  and  fuel  to  a  minimum  to  be  able  to 
launch  out  into  excesses,  and  eat  as  much  and  as  often 
as  we  like.     It  is  a  state  of  things  hardly  to  be  realized 
at  present.     The  food  is  agreeable  to  the  taste,  and  we 
like  it  better  and  better.     My  own  opinion  is  that  blub- 
ber is  excellent  both  raw  and  fried,  and  it  can  well  take 
the  place  of  butter.     The  meat,  in    our  eyes,  is  as  good 
as  meat  can  be.     We  had  it  yesterday  for  breakfast,  in 
the  shape  of  meat  and  soup  served  with  raw  blubber.   For 
dinner  I  fried  a  highly  successful  steak,  not  to  be   sur- 
passed by  the  '  Grand  '  [Hotel],  though  a  good  '  seidel '  of 
bock-beer  would  have  been  a  welcome  addition.     For  sup- 
per I  made  blood-pancakes  fried   in  blubber  instead  of 
butter,  and  they  were  a   success,  inasmuch    as  Johansen 
pronounced  them  '  first-class,'  to  say  nothing  of  my  own 
sentiments.     This  frying,  however,  inside  the  tent  over  a 
train-oil  lamp,  is  a  doubtful  pleasure.     If  the  lamp  itself 
does  not  smoke  the  blubber  does,  causing  the  unfortunate 
cook  the   most    excruciating    pain    in   the   eyes ;  he  can 


296  FARTHEST  NORTH 

hardly  keep  them  open,  and  they  water  copiously.  But 
the  consequences  could  be  even  worse.  The  train-oil 
lamp  which  I  had  contrived  out  of  a  sheet  of  German 
silver  became  over-heated  one  day  under  the  hot  frying- 
pan,  and  at  last  the  whole  thing  caught  fire,  both  the 
lumps  of  blubber  and  the  train-oil.  The  flame  shot  up 
into  the  air,  while  I  tried  by  every  means  in  my  power  to 
put  it  out,  but  it  only  grew  worse.  The  best  thing  would 
have  been  to  convey  the  whole  lamp  outside,  but  there 
was  no  time  for  it.  The  tent  began  to  fill  with  suffocat- 
ing smoke,  and  as  a  last  resort  I  unfortunately  seized  a 
handful  of  snow  and  threw  it  on  to  the  burning  train-oil. 
It  sputtered  and  crackled,  boiling  oil  flew  in  all  direc- 
tions, and  from  the  lamp  itself  rose  a  sea  of  flames  which 
filled  the  whole  tent  and  burned  everything  they  came 
near.  Half-suffocated,  we  both  threw  ourselves  against 
the  closed  door,  bursting  off  the  buttons,  and  dashed 
headlong  into  the  open  air — glad,  indeed,  to  have  escaped 
with  our  lives.  With  this  explosion  the  lamp  went  out ; 
but  when  we  came  to  examine  the  tent  we  found  an 
enormous  hole  burned  in  the  silk  wall  above  the  place 
where  the  frying-pan  had  stood.  One  of  our  sledge-sails 
had  to  pay  the  penalty  for  that  hole.  We  crept  back 
into  the  tent  again,  congratulating  ourselves,  however,  on 
having  got  off  so  easily,  and,  after  a  great  deal  of  trouble, 
rekindled  a  fire  so  that  I  could  fry  the  last  pancake. 
We  then  ate  it  with  sugar,  in  the  best  of  spirits,  and 
pronounced  it  the  most  delicious  fare  we  had  ever  tasted. 


V  ::2 


S      Ci 


vO 
C-n 


BY  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  299 

We  had  good  reason,  too,  to  be  in  spirits,  for  our  obser- 
vation for  the  day  made  us  in  82°  4.3'  north  latitude  and 
57°  48'  east  longitude.  In  spite  of  westerly  and,  in  a 
measure,  southwesterly  winds,  we  had  come  nearly  14' 
south  in  three  days  and  next  to  nothing  east.  A  highly 
surprising  and  satisfactory  discovery.  Outside,  the  north 
wind  was  still  blowing,  and  consequently  we  were  drift- 
ing south  towards  more  clement  regions. 

"  Wednesday,  June  26th.  June  24th  was  naturally 
celebrated  with  great  festivities.  In  the  first  place,  it  was 
that  day  two  years  since  we  started  from  home ;  second- 
ly it  was  a  hundred  days  since  we  left  the  Fram  (not 
really,  it  was  two  days  more) ;  and,  thirdly,  it  was  Mid- 
summer -  day.  It  was,  of  course,  a  holiday,  and  we 
passed  it  in  dreaming  of  good  times  to  come,  in  study- 
ing our  charts,  our  future  prospects,  and  in  reading  any- 
thing readable  that  was  to  be  found — i.  e.,  the  almanac 
and  navigation-tables.  Johansen  took  a  walk  along  the 
lanes,  and  also  managed  to  miss  a  ringed  seal,  or  '  snad,' 
as  we  call  it  in  Norwegian,  in  a  pool  here  east  of  us. 
Then  came  supper — rather  late  in  the  night — consisting 
of  blood-pancakes  with  sugar,  and  unsurpassed  in  flavor. 
The  frying  over  the  oil-lamp  took  a  long  time,  and  in 
order  to  have  them  hot  we  had  to  eat  each  one  as  it  was 
fried,  a  mode  of  procedure  which  promoted  a  healthy 
appetite  between  each  pancake.  Thereafter  we  stewed 
some  of  our  red  whortleberries,  and  they  tasted  no  less 
good,  although  they  had   been   soaked  in  salt  -  water  in 


300  FARTHEST  NORTH 

Johansen's  kayak  during  the  catastrophe  of  a  couple  of 
days  ago;  and  after  a  glorious  meal  we  turned  into  the 
bag  at  8  o'clock  yesterday  morning. 

"  At  midday,  again,  I  got  up  and  went  out  to  take  a 
meridian  altitude.  The  weather  was  brilliant,  and  it  was 
so  long  since  we  had  had  anything  of  the  kind  that  I 
could  hardly  remember  it.  I  sat  up  on  the  hummock, 
waiting  for  the  sun  to  come  to  the  meridian,  basking  in 
its  rays,  and  looking  out  over  the  stretches  of  ice,  where 
the  snow  glittered  and  sparkled  on  all  sides,  and  at  the 
pool  in  front  of  me  lying  shining  and  still  as  a  mountain 
lake,  and  reflecting  its  icy  banks  in  the  clear  water.  Not 
a  breath  of  wind  stirred  —  so  still,  so  still;  and  the  sun 
baked,  and  I  dreamed  myself  at  home.  .  .  . 

"  Before  going  into  the  tent  I  went  to  fetch  some  salt- 
water for  the  soup  we  were  to  have  for  breakfast;  but 
just  at  that  moment  a  seal  came  up  by  the  side  of  the 
ice,  and  I  ran  back  for  my  gun  and  kayak.  Out  on  the 
water  I  discovered  that  it  was  leaking  like  a  sieve  from 
lying  in  the  sun,  and  I  had  to  paddle  back  faster  than  I 
had  come  out,  to  avoid  sinking.  As  I  was  emptying  the 
kayak,  up  came  the  seal  again  in  front  of  me,  and  this 
time  my  shot  took  effect ;  the  animal  lay  floating  on 
the  water  like  a  cork.  It  was  not  many  minutes  before 
I  had  the  leaking  craft  on  the  water  again,  and  my 
harpoon  in  the  animal's  neck.  I  towed  it  in  while  the 
kayak  gradually  filled,  and  my  legs,  or,  rather,  that  part 
which  follows  closely  above  the  legs  when  one  is  sitting 


BY  SLEDGE   AXD   KAYAK  30I 

in  a  canoe,  became  soaked  with  water,  and  my  '  koma- 
ger'  gradually  filled.  After  having  dragged  the  seal 
up  to  the  tent,  '  flensed '  it,  collected  all  the  blood  which 
was  to  be  had,  and  cut  it  up,  I  crept  into  the  tent,  put 
on  some  dry  underclothes,  and  into  the  bag  again,  while 
the  wet  ones  were  drying  outside  in  the  sun.  It  is  easy 
enough  to  keep  one's  self  warm  in  the  tent  now.  The 
heat  was  so  great  inside  it  last  night  that  we  could 
hardly  sleep,  although  we  lay  on  the  bag  instead  of  in 
it.  When  I  came  back  with  the  seal  I  discovered  that 
Johansen's  bare  foot  was  sticking  out  of  the  tent  at  a 
place  where  the  peg  had  given  way;  he  w^as  sleeping 
soundly  and  had  no  idea  of  it.  After  having  a  small 
piece  of  chocolate  to  commemorate  the  happy  capture, 
and,  looking  over  my  observations,  we  again  settled 
down  to  rest. 

"  It  appears,  remarkably  enough,  from  our  latitude 
that  we  are  still  on  the  same  spot,  without  any  farther 
drifts  southward,  in  spite  of  the  northerly  winds.  Can 
the  ice  be  landlocked }  It  is  not  impossible ;  far  off 
land,  at  any  rate,  we  cannot  be. 

"Thursday,  June  27th.  The  same  monotonous  life, 
the  same  wind,  the  same  misty  weather,  and  the  same 
coQ:itations  as  to  what  the  future  will  brino^.  There  was  a 
gale  from  the  north  last  night,  with  a  fall  of  hard  granular 
snow,  which  lashed  against  the  tent  walls  so  that  one 
mis^ht  think  it  to  be  ijood  honest  rain.  It  melted  on  the 
walls  directly,  and  the  water  ran  down  them.     It  is  cozy 


302  FARTHEST  NORTH 

in  here,  however,  and  the  wind  does  not  reach  us ;  we  can 
He  in  our  warm  bag,  and  listen  to  the  flapping  of  the  tent, 
and  imagine  that  we  are  drifting  rapidly  westward,  al- 
though perhaps  we  are  not  moving  from  the  spot.  But  if 
this  wind  does  not  move  us,  the  only  explanation  is  that 
the  ice  is  landlocked,  and  that  we  cannot  be  far  off  shore. 
We  must  wait  for  an  east  wind,  I  suppose,  to  drive  us 
farther  west,  and  then  afterwards  south.  My  hope  is  that 
we  shall  drift  into  the  channel  between  Franz  Josef  Land 
and  Spitzbergen  while  we  are  lying  here.  The  weather 
was  raw  and  windy  with  snowfall,  so  that  it  was  hardly 
suitable  for  outdoor  work,  particularly  as,  unfortunately, 
there  was  no  need  to  hurry. 

"  The  lanes  have  changed  very  much  of  late ;  there  is 
hardly  anything  left  of  the  pool  in  front  of  us,  over  which 
we  paddled,  and  there  has  been  pressure  around  us  in 
all  directions.  I  hope  the  ice  will  be  well  ground  into 
pieces,  as  this  enables  it  to  slacken  more  quickly  when 
the  time  comes;  but  that  will  not  be  before  far  on  in 
July,  and  we  ought  to  have  the  patience  to  wait  for  it 
perhaps. 

"  Yesterday  we  cut  some  of  the  seal's  flesh  into  thin 
slices  and  hung  them  up  to  dry.  We  must  increase  our 
travelling  store  and  prepare  pemmican  or  dried  meat ;  it 
will  be  the  easiest  way  of  carrying  it  with  us.  Johansen 
yesterday  found  a  pond  of  fresh  water  close  by,  which  is 
very  convenient,  and  we  need  no  longer  melt  ice ;  it  is  the 
first  good  water  we  have  found  for  cooking  purposes.     If 


BY  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  303 

the  seals  are  few  and  far  between,  there  are  birds  still,  I 
am  thankful  to  say.  Last  night  a  couple  of  ivory-gulls 
{Larus  ebtirnetcs),  were  bold  enough  to  settle  down  on 
our  sealskin,  close  beside  the  tent  wall,  and  pecked  at  the 
blubber.  They  were  sent  off  once  or  twice,  but  returned. 
If  the  meat  falls  short  we  must  resort  to  catching  birds." 

Thus  the  days  passed  by,  one  exactly  like  the  other ; 
w^e  waited  and  waited  for  the  snow  to  melt,  and  worked 
desultorily  meanwhile  at  getting  ourselves  ready  to  pro- 
ceed. This  life  reminded  me  of  some  Eskimos  who 
journeyed  up  a  fjord  to  collect  grass  for  hay ;  but  when 
they  arrived  at  their  destination  found  it  quite  short,  and 
so  settled  down  and  waited  till  it  was  long  enough  to  cut. 
A  suitable  condition  of  the  snow  was  long  in  coming. 
On  June  29th  I  write:  "Will  not  the  temperature  rise 
sufficiently  to  make  something  like  an  effectual  clearance 
of  the  snow.?  We  try  to  pass  the  time  as  best  we  can  in 
talking  of  how  delightful  it  will  be  when  we  get  home, 
and  how  we  shall  enjoy  life  and  all  its  charms,  and  go 
through  a  calculation  of  chances  as  to  how  soon  that  may 
be ;  but  sometimes,  too,  we  talk  of  how  well  we  will 
arrange  for  the  winter  in  Spitzbergen,  if  we  should  not 
reach  home  this  year.  If  it  should  come  to  that,  we  may 
not  even  get  so  far,  but  have  to  winter  on  some  place 
ashore  here — no,  it  can  never  come  to  that ! 

"Sunday,  June  30th.  So  this  is  the  end  of  June,  and 
we  are  about  the  same  place  as  when  we  began  the 
month.     And   the  state   of   the   snow  ?     Well,  better  it 


304  FARTHEST  NORTH 

certainly  is  not ;  but  the  day  is  fine.  It  is  so  warm  that 
we  are  quite  hot  lying  here  inside  the  tent.  Through 
the  open  door  we  can  see  out  over  the  ice  where  the 
sun  is  glittering  through  white  sailing  cirrus  clouds  on 
the  dazzling  whiteness.  And  then  there  is  a  Sunday 
calm,  with  a  faint  breeze  mostly  from  the  southeast,  I 
think.  Ah  me!  it  is  lovely  at  home  to-day,  I  am  sure, 
with  everything  in  bloom  and  the  fjord  quivering  in  the 
sunlight;  and  you  are  sitting  out  on  the  point  with  Liv, 
perhaps,  or  are  on  the  water  in  your  boat.  And  then 
one's  eye  wanders  out  through  the  door  again,  and  I  am 
reminded  there  is  many  an  ice-floe  between  now  and 
then,  before  the  time  when  I  shall  see  it  all  again. 

"  Here  we  lie  far  up  in  the  north ;  two  grim,  black, 
soot -stained  barbarians,  stirring  a  mess  of  soup  in  a 
kettle  and  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  ice ;  by  ice  and 
nothing  else  —  shining  and  white,  possessed  of  all  the 
purity  we  ourselves  lack.  Alas,  it  is  all  too  pure !  One's 
eye  searched  to  the  very  horizon  for  a  dark  spot  to  rest 
on,  but  in  vain.  When  will  it  really  come  to  pass  '^. 
Now  we  have  waited  for  it  two  months.  All  the  birds 
seemed  to  have  disappeared  to-day;  not  even  a  cheery 
little  auk  to  be  seen.  They  were  here  until  yesterday, 
and  we  have  heard  them  flying  north  and  south,  probably 
to  and  from  land,  where  they  have  gone,  I  suppose,  now 
that  there  is  so  little  water  about  in  these  parts.  If  only 
we  could  move  as  easily  as  they ! 

"Wednesday,    July    3d.     Why   write    again .^     What 


BY  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  305 

have  I  to  commit  to  these  pages  ?  Nothing  but  the 
same  overpowering  longing  to  be  home  and  away  from 
this  monotony.  One  day  just  Hke  the  other,  with  the 
exception,  perhaps,  that  before  it  was  warm  and  quiet, 
while  the  last  two  days  there  has  been  a  south  wind 
blowing,  and  we  are  drifting  northward.  Found  from  a 
meridian  altitude  yesterday  that  we  have  drifted  back 
to  82°  8.4'  N.,  while  the  longitude  is  about  the  same. 
Both  yesterday  and  the  day  before  we  had  to  a  certain 
extent  really  brilliant  sunshine,  and  this  for  us  is  a  great 
rarity.  The  horizon  in  the  south  was  fairly  clear  yes- 
terday, which  it  had  not  been  for  a  long  time ;  but  we 
searched  it  in  vain  for  land.     I  do  not  understand  it.  ,  .  . 

"  We  had  a  fall  of  snow  last  night,  and  it  dripped  in 
here  so  that  the  bag  became  wet.  This  constant  snow- 
fall, which  will  not  turn  to  rain,  is  enough  to  make  one 
despair.  It  generally  takes  the  form  of  a  thick  layer  of 
new  snow  on  the  top  of  the  old,  and  this  delays  the  thaw. 

"  This  wind  seems  to  have  formed  some  lanes  in  the 
ice  again,  and  there  is  a  little  more  bird-life.  We  saw 
some  little  auks  again  yesterday;  they  came  from  the 
south,  probably  from  land. 

"Saturday,  July   6th.     +3.38°  Fahr.  (+i°C.).      Rain. 

At  last,  after  a  fortnight,  we  seem  to  have  got  the  weather 

we  have  been  waiting  for.      It  has  rained  the  whole  night 

and  forenoon,  and  is  still  at  it — real,  good  rain:  so  now, 

perhaps,  this  everlasting  snow  will  take  itself  off ;  it  is  as 

soft  and  loose  as  scum.     If  only  this  rain  would  go  on  for 
II.— 20 


3o6  FARTHEST  NORTH 

many  days  !  But  before  we  have  time  to  look  round  there 
will  be  a  cold  wind  with  snow,  a  crust  will  form,  and  again 
we  must  wait.  I  am  too  used  to  disappointment  to  believe 
in  anything.  This  is  a  school  of  patience ;  but  neverthe- 
less the  rain  has  put  us  in  good  spirits. 

"  The  days  drag  wearily  by.  We  work  in  an  inter- 
mittent w^ay  at  the  kayak  grips  of  wood  for  our  sledges, 
and  at  calking  and  painting  our  kayaks  to  make  them 
water-tight.  The  painting,  however,  causes  me  a  good 
deal  of  trouble.  I  burned  bones  here  for  many  days  till 
the  whole  place  smelled  like  the  bone-dust  works  at 
Lysaker;  then  came  the  toilsome  process  of  pounding 
and  grating  them  to  make  them  perfectly  fine  and  even. 
The  bone-dust  was  thereupon  mixed  with  train-oil,  and 
at  last  I  got  as  far  as  a  trial,  but  the  paint  proved 
uncompromisingly  to  be  perfectly  useless.  So  now  I 
must  mix  it  with  soot,  as  I  had  first  intended,  and  add 
more  oil.  I  am  now  occupied  in  smoking  the  place  out 
in  my  attempts  to  make  soot ;  but  all  my  exertions,  when 
it  comes  to  collecting  it,  only  result  in  a  little  pinch, 
although  the  smoke  towered  in  the  air,  and  they  might 
have  seen  it  in  Spitzbergen.  There  is  a  great  deal  to  do 
battle  with  when  one  has  not  a  shop  next  door.  What 
would  I  not  give  for  a  little  bucket  of  oil-paint,  only  com- 
mon lampblack !  Well,  well ;  we  shall  find  a  way  out  of 
the  difficulty  eventually,  but  meanwhile  we  are  growing 
like  sweeps. 

"  On  Wednesday  evening  '  Haren'  was   killed ;   poor 


BV  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK 


307 


beast,  he  was  not  good  for  much  latterly,  but  he  had 
been  a  first-rate  dog,  and  it  was  hard,  I  fancy,  for  Johan- 
sen  to  part  with  him ;  he  looked  sorrowfully  at  the 
animal  before  it  went  to  the  happy  hunting-grounds,  or 
wherever  it  may   be   draught -dogs  go  to.     Perhaps  to 


MY    LAST     DOG,    "  KAIFAS  " 


places  where  there  are  plains  of  level  ice  and  no  ridges 
and  lanes.  There  are  only  two  dogs  le^ft  now — '  Suggen  ' 
and  '  Kaifas' — and  we  must  keep  them  alive  as  long  as 
we  can,  and  have  use  for  them. 

"  The  day  before  yesterday,  in  the  evening,  we  sud- 
denly discovered  a  black  hillock  to  the  east.  We  ex- 
amined it  through  the  glass  and  it  looked  absolutely  like 
a  black  rock  emero^incr  from  the  snows.    It  also  somewhat 


3o8  FARTHEST  A^ORIH 

exceeded  the  neighboring  hummocks  in  height.  I  scru- 
tinized it  carefully  from  the  highest  ridge  hereabouts,  but 
could  not  make  it  out.  I  thought  it  too  big  to  be  only 
a  piled-up  hummock  mixed  with  black  ice  or  earthy  mat- 
ter, and  I  had  never  seen  anything  of  the  kind  before. 
That  it  is  an  island  seems  highly  improbable;  for  al- 
though we  are  certainly  drifting,  it  remains  in  the  same 
position  in  relation  to  us.  We  saw  it  yesterday,  and  see 
it  still  to-day  in  the  same  quarter.  I  think  the  most 
reasonable  supposition  is  that  it  is  an  iceberg. 

"  No  sooner  does  the  horizon  clear  in  the  south  than 
one  of  us  may  be  seen  taking  his  customary  walk  to  the 
'  watch-tower '  (a  hummock  beside  the  tent)  to  scan  for 
land,  sometimes  with  a  glass,  sometimes  without  it ;  but 
there  is  nothing  to  be  seen  but  the  same  bare  horizon.* 

"  Every  day  I  take  a  turn  round  the  ice  in  our  neigh- 
borhood to  see  if  the  snow  has  decreased,  but  it  always 
seems  to  be  about  the  same,  and  sometimas  I  have  mo- 
ments of  doubt  as  to  whether  it  will  clear  away  at  all  this 
summer.  If  not,  our  prospects  will  be  more  than  dark. 
The  best  we  can  hope  for  will  then  be  a  winter  some- 
where or  other  on  Franz  Josef  Land.  But  now  the 
rain  has  come.  It  is  pouring  down  the  tent  walls 
and  dripping  on  the  ice.  Everything  looks  hopeful 
again,  and  we  are  picturing  the  delights  of  the  autumn 
and  winter  at  home. 

*  Compare,  however,  what  I  say  on  this  subject  later — i.e.,  July  24th* 


BY  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  309 

"  Wednesday,  July  loth.  It  is  a  curious  thing  that  now, 
when  I  really  have  something  of  a  little  more  interest 
than  usual  to  relate,  I  have  less  inclination  to  write  than 
ever.  Everything  seems  to  become  mere  and  more  in- 
different. One  longs  only  for  one  single  thing,  and  still 
the  ice  is  lying  out  there  covered  with  impassable  snow. 

"  But  what  was  it  I  had  to  say  ?  Oh  yes,  that  we 
made  ourselves  such  a  good  bed  yesterday  with  bear- 
skins under  the  bag ;  that  we  slept  the  clock  round  with- 
out knowing  it,  and  I  thought  it  was  six  in  the  morn- 
ing when  I  turned  out.  When  I  came  out  of  the  tent  I 
thought  there  was  something  remarkable  about  the  posi- 
tion of  the  sun,  and  pondered  over  it  for  a  little  while, 
until  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  six  in  the 
evening,  and  that  we  had  slumbered  for  twenty-two  hours. 
We  have  not  slept  much  of  late,  as  we  have  been  broken 
on  the  wheel,  so  to  speak,  by  the  snow-shoes  we  had 
to  place  under  the  bag,  in  order  to  keep  it  clear  of  the 
pools  of  water  under  us.  The  apologies  for  hair  still  ex- 
isting here  and  there  on  the  skin  at  the  bottom  of  the 
bag  do  not  afford  much  protection  against  the  sharp 
edges  of  the  snow-shoes. 

"  This  beneficent  rain  continued  the  whole  day  on 
Saturday,  doing  away  with  a  fair  amount  of  snow,  and  we 
rejoice  to  hear  it.  To  celebrate  the  good  weather  we 
determined  to  have  chocolate  for  supper;  otherwise  we 
live  entirely  on  our  catch.  We  had  the  chocolate  ac- 
cordingly, and  served  with   raw   blubber  it  tasted  quite 


3IO  FARTHEST  NORTH 

excellent.  It  was  the  cause  of  a  great  disappointment, 
however,  for  after  having  looked  forward  immoderately 
to  this,  now  so  rare,  treat,  I  managed  clumsily  to  upset 
my  whole  cup,  so  that  all  the  precious  contents  ran  out 
over  the  ice.  While  I  was  lying  waiting  for  a  second  cup 
— it  was  boiling  over  the  train-oil  lamp — '  Kaifas '  began 
to  bark  outside.  Not  doubting  but  that  he  had  seen  an 
animal,  I  jumped  up  to  hurry  off  to  the  lookout  hum- 
mock to  scan  the  ice.  Not  a  little  surprised  was  I 
when  I  poked  my  head  out  of  the  tent  door  to  see  a 
bear  come  jogging  up  to  the  dogs  and  begin  sniffing  at 
'  Kaifas.'  I  sprang  to  the  gun,  which  stood  ready  in  the 
snow  beside  the  tent,  and  pulled  off  the  case,  the  bear 
meanwhile  standing  astonished  and  glaring  at  me.  I 
sent  it  a  ball  through  the  shoulder  and  chest,  certain 
that  it  would  drop  on  the  spot.  It  half  staggered  over, 
and  then  turned  round  and  made  off,  and  before  I  could 
extract  a  new  cartridge  from  my  pocket,  which  was  full  of 
everything  else,  was  away  among  the  hummocks.  I  could 
not  get  a  shot  at  it  where  it  was,  and  set  off  in  pursuit. 
I  had  not  gone  many  steps  before  we  saw  (Johansen 
had  followed  me)  two  more  heads  appearing  a  little  way 
farther  on.  They  belonged  to  two  cubs,  which  were 
standing  on  their  hind-legs  and  looking  at  their  mother, 
who  came  reeling  towards  them,  with  a  trail  of  blood 
behind  her.  Then  off  they  went,  all  three,  over  a  lane, 
and  a  wild  chase  began  over  plains  and  ridges  and  lanes 
and  every  kind  of  obstacle,  but  it  made  no  difference  to 


BY  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  311 

their  pace.  A  wonderful  thing  this  love  of  sport ;  it  is 
like  settine  fire  to  a  fuse.  Where  at  other  times  it  would 
be  laborious  work  to  get  on  at  all,  where  one  sinks  to 
the  knees  in  the  snow,  and  where  one  would  hesitate  be- 
fore choosing  a  way  over  the  lane,  let  only  the  spark  be 
kindled,  and  one  clears  every  obstacle  without  thinking 
about  it.  The  bear  was  severely  wounded,  and  dragged 
her  left  fore-leg ;  she  did  not  go  fast,  but  always  so  fast 
that  I  had  my  work  cut  out  to  keep  near  her.  The  cubs 
ran  round  her  in  their  solicitude,  and  generally  a  little 
way  in  front,  as  if  to  get  her  to  come  with  them ;  they 
little  knew  w^hat  was  the  matter  with  her.  Suddenly 
they  all  three  looked  back  at  me,  as  I  was  crashing  after 
them  as  fast  as  I  could.  I  had  been  within  range  many 
times,  but  the  bear  had  had  her  hind  quarters  towards  me, 
and  when  I  fired  I  meant  to  be  sure  of  making  an  end  of 
her,  as  I  only  had  three  cartridges  with  me,  one  for  each 
of  them.  At  last,  on  the  top  of  a  huge  hummock,  I  got 
a  sight  of  her  broadside  on,  and  there,  too,  she  dropped. 
The  cubs  hurried  anxiously  up  to  her  when  she  fell  —  it 
made  one  sorry  to  see  them — they  sniffed  at  and  pushed 
her,  and  ran  round  and  round,  at  a  loss  what  to  do  in 
their  despair.  Meanwhile  I  had  put  another  cartridge 
in  the  rifle,  and  picked  off  the  other  cub  as  it  was  stand- 
ing on  a  projection.  It  fell  over  the  declivity  with  a 
growl,  and  down  on  to  its  mother.  Still  more  frightened 
than  before,  the  other  cub  hastened  to  its  succor;  but, 
poor  thing,  what  could  it  do  ?    While  its  brother  rolled 


312  FARTHEST  NORTH 

over,  growling,  it  stood  there  looking  sorrowfully  some- 
times at  it,  sometimes  at  the  mother,  who  lay  dying  in 
a  pool  of  blood.  When  I  approached,  it  turned  its  head 
away  indifferently ;  what  did  it  care  about  me  now  ?  All 
its  kindred,  everything  it  held  dear,  lay  there  mutilated 
and  destroyed.  It  no  longer  knew  whither  to  go,  and  did 
not  move  from  the  spot.  I  went  right  up  to  it,  and,  with 
a  spherical  ball  through  the  breast,  it  fell  dead  beside  its 
mother. 

"Johansen  soon  came  up.  A  lane  had  detained  him, 
so  that  he  had  lost  ground.  We  opened  the  animals, 
took  out  the  entrails,  and  then  went  back  to  the  tent  to 
fetch  the  sledges  and  dogs  and  proper  flaying-knives. 
Our  second  cup  of  chocolate  in  the  tent  tasted  very  good 
after  this  interruption.  When  we  had  skinned  and  cut 
up  the  two  bears  we  left  them  in  a  heap,  covered  over 
with  the  skins  to  protect  the  meat  from  the  gulls ;  the 
third  one  we  took  back  with  us.  The  next  day  we 
fetched  the  others,  and  now  have  more  meat  food  than 
we  shall  be  able  to  consume,  I  hope.  It  is  a  good  thing, 
though,  that  we  can  give  the  dogs  as  much  raw  meat 
as  they  will  eat;  they  certainly  require  it.  '  Suggen,'  poor 
thing,  is  in  a  very  bad  way,  and  it  is  a  question  whether 
we  can  get  any  more  work  out  of  him.  When  we  took 
him  with  us  after  the  bears  the  first  day,  he  could  not 
walk,  and  we  had  to  place  him  on  the  sledge ;  but  then 
he  howled  so  terrifically,  as  much  as  to  say  it  was  be- 
neath  his    dignity  to   be   transported   in    this   way,  that 


BY  SLEDGE   AND   KAYAK  313 

Johansen  had  to  take  him  home  again.  The  dogs  seem 
to  be  attacked  with  a  paralysis  of  the  legs ;  they  fall 
down,  and  have  the  greatest  difficulty  in  rising.  It  has 
been  the  same  with  all  of  them,  from  '  Gulen  '  downward. 
'  Kaifas,'  however,  is  as  fresh  and  well  as  ever. 

"  It  is  remarkable  how  large  these  cubs  were.  I 
could  hardly  imagine  that  they  were  born  this  year,  and 
should  without  hesitation  have  put  them  down  as  a  year 
old  if  the  she-bear  had  not  been  in  milk,  and  it  is  hardly 
to  be  supposed  that  the  cubs  would  suck  for  a  year  and  a 
half.  Those  we  shot  by  the  Fram  on  November  4th 
last  year  were  hardly  half  the  size  of  these.  It  would 
seem  as  if  the  polar  bear  produces  its  young  at  different 
times  of  the  year.  In  the  paunches  of  the  cubs  were 
pieces  of  skin  from  a  seal. 

"Monday,  July  15th.  As  we  were  working  at  the 
kayaks  yesterday  a  Ross's  gull  {Rkodostethia  rosea)  came 
flying  by.  It  was  a  full-grown  bird,  and  made  a  turn 
when  just  over  us,  showing  its  pretty  rose -colored 
breast,  and  then  disappeared  again  in  the  mist  southward. 
On  Thursday  I  saw  another  adult  Ross's  gull,  with  a 
black  ring  round  its  neck ;  it  came  from  the  northeast, 
and  flew  in  a  southwesterly  direction.  Otherwise  it  is 
remarkable  how  all  the  birds  have  disappeared  from  here. 
The  little  auk  is  no  longer  to  be  seen  or  heard ;  the  only 
birds  are  an  ivory-gull  now  and  then,  and  occasionally  a 
fulmar. 

"  Wednesday,  July  17th.     At  last  the  time  is  drawing 


314  FARTHEST  NORTH 

near  when  we  can  be  off  again  and  start  homeward  in 
earnest.  The  snow  has  decreased  sufficiently  to  make 
advance  fairly  easy.  We  are  doing  our  utmost  to  get 
ready.  The  grips  on  the  sledges  are  nicely  arranged, 
and  provided  with  cushions  of  bearskin  on  Johansen's 
and  of  cloth  on  mine.  This  is  in  order  to  give  the 
kayaks  a  firm  and  soft  bed  and  prevent  chafing.  The 
kayaks  are  painted  with  soot  and  train-oil,  and  have  been 
calked  with  pastels  (for  drawing),  crushed  and  also  mixed 
with  train-oil ;  that  is  to  say,  as  far  as  these  various  ingre- 
dients would  go.  We  are  now  using  a  mixture  of  stea- 
rine,  pitch,  and  resin, ^  to  finish  up  with.  A  thorough 
revision  of  our  equipment  will  take  place,  and  everything 
not  absolutely  invaluable  will  be  left  behind.  We  must 
say  good-bye  here  to  the  sleeping-bag  and  tent.t  Our 
days  of  comfort  are  past,  and  henceforth  until  we  are  on 
board  the  sloop|  we  will  live  under  the  open  sky. 

"  Meanwhile  we  have  lain  here — '  Longing  Camp,'  as 
we  call  it — and  let  the  time  slip  by.  We  have  eaten 
bear -meat  morning,  noon,  and  night,  and,  so  far  from 
being  tired  of  it,  have  made  the  discovery  that  the  breast 
of  the  cubs  is  quite  a  delicacy.  It  is  remarkable  that 
this  exclusive  meat  and  fat  diet  has  not  caused  us  the 
slightest  discomfort  in  any  way,  and  we  have  no  craving 


*  This  was  taken  in  case  it  might  be  wanted  for  soldering  the  cooking 
apparatus  or  the  German-silver  plates  under  the  sledge-runners. 
t  We  eventually  decided  to  retain  this,  however. 
X  The  vessel  we  expected  to  catch  in  Spitzbergen. 


BY  SLEDGE  AND   KAYAK  315 

for  farinaceous  food,  although  we  might,  perhaps,  regard 
a  large  cake  as  the  acme  of  happiness.  Every  now  and 
then  we  cheer  ourselves  up  with  lime-juice  grog,  a  blood- 
pancake,  or  some  stewed  whortleberries,  and  let  our  im- 
aeinations  run  riot  over  all  the  amenities  of  civilization, 
which  we  mean  to  enjoy  to  the  full  when  we  get  home ! 
Perhaps  it  will  be  many  a  long  day  before  we  get  there ; 
perhaps  there  will  be  many  a  hard  trial  to  overcome. 
But,  no  ;  I  will  believe  the  best.  There  are  still  two  months 
of  summer  left,  and  in  them  something  can  be  done. 

"  Friday,  July  19th.  Two  full-grown  Ross's  gulls  flew 
over  here  from  the  northeast  and  went  west  this  morning. 
When  far  off  they  uttered  cries  which  reminded  me  of 
that  of  the  wryneck,  and  which  I  at  first  thought  came 
from  a  little  auk.  They  flew  quite  low,  just  over  my 
head,  and  the  rose-color  of  their  under-parts  could  be  seen 
plainly.  Another  Ross's  gull  flew  by  here  yesterday.  It 
is  strange  that  there  should  be  so  many  of  them.  Where 
are  we  1 

"  Tuesday,  July  23d.  Yesterday  forenoon  we  at  last 
got  clear  of  '  Longing  Camp,'  and  now,  I  am  thankful  to 
say,  we  are  again  on  the  move.  We  have  worked  day 
and  night  to  get  off.  First  we  thought  it  would  be  on 
the  19th,  then  the  20th,  and  then  the  21st,  but  something 
always  cropped  up  that  had  to  be  done  before  we  could 
leave.  The  bread,  which  had  been  soaked  in  sea-water, 
had  to  be  carefully  dried  in  the  frying-pan  over  the  lamp, 
and  this  took   several    days;    then  the  socks  had  to  be 


3i6  FARTHEST  NORTH 

patched,  and  the  kayaks  carefully  looked  over,  etc. 
We  were  determined  to  start  on  our  last  journey  home 
in  good  repair,  and  so  we  did.  Everything  goes  like 
wildfire.  The  chances  of  progress  are  better  than  we 
expected,  although  the  ice  is  anything  but  even ;  the 
sledges  are  lighter  to  draw,  now  that  everything  that  can 
be  dispensed  with  is  left  behind,  and  the  snow,  too,  has 
decreased  considerably.  On  the  last  part  of  the  journey 
yesterday  we  could  even  go  without  snow-shoes,  and, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  progress  among  the  ridges  and 
irregularities,  where  they  are  difficult  to  manage,  is 
quicker  without  them.  Johansen  performed  a  feat  by 
crossing  a  lane  alone  in  his  kayak,  with  'Suggen'  lying 
on  the  fore-deck,  while  he  himself  knelt  on  the  after-deck 
and  balanced  the  craft  as  he  paddled.  I  began  to  try 
the  same  with  mine,  but  found  it  too  cranky  to  risk  the 
attempt,  and  preferred  to  tow  it  over,  with  'Kaifas'  on  the 
deck,  while  I  went  carefully  alongside  and  jumped  over 
on  some  pieces  of  ice. 

"  We  have  now  the  advantage  of  finding  drinking- 
water  everywhere.  We  are  also  eating  our  old  proven- 
der again ;  but,  curiously  enough,  neither  Johansen  nor 
I  think  the  farinaceous  food  as  good  as  one  might  sup- 
pose after  a  month  of  meat  diet.  It  is  good  to  be  under 
way  again,  and  not  the  least  pleasant  part  about  it  is  our 
lighter  sledges ;  but  then  we  certainly  left  a  good  deal 
behind  at  '  Longing  Camp.'  In  addition  to  a  respect- 
able mound  of  meat  and  blubber,  we  left  three  fine  bear- 


BY  SLEDGE   AXD   KAYAK  317 

skins.  Our  friend,  the  bag,  too,  is  lying  on  the  top  of 
the  bears ;  a  quantity  of  wood,  consisting  of  the  boards 
from  under  the  sledges,  the  snow-shoes  and  other  things, 
more  than  half  of  Blessing's  fine  medicaments — plaster- 
of-Paris  bandages,  soft  steam-sterilized  gauze  bandages, 
hygroscopic  cotton  wadding — to  say  nothing  of  a  good 
aluminium  horizon-glass,  rope,  our  combined  frying-pan 
and  melter,  half  an  aluminium  cap  belonging  to  the 
cooker,  sheets  of  German  silver,  a  train-oil  lamp  of  the 
same,  bags,  tools,  sail  -  cloth,  Finn  shoes,  our  wolfskin 
fingerless  gloves,  also  woollen  ones,  a  geological  hammer, 
half  a  shirt,  socks,  and  other  sundries,  all  strewn  about  in 
chaotic  confusion.  Instead  of  all  these  we  have  an  aug- 
mentation in  the  form  of  a  sack  of  dried  seal's  and  bear's 
flesh  and  the  other  half  of  the  aluminium  cap  full  of 
blubber.  We  are  now  thoroughly  divested  of  all  super- 
fluous articles,  and  there  is  hardly  so  much  as  a  bit  of 
wood  to  be  had  if  one  should  want  a  stick  to  slip  through 
the  end  of  the  hauling-rope." 


CHAPTER  VII 


LAND     AT     LAST 


"Wednesday,  July  24th.  At  last  the  marvel  has 
come  to  pass — land,  land!  and  after  we  had  almost  given 
up  our  belief  in  it!  After  nearly  two  years,  we  again 
see  something  rising  above  that  never-ending  white  line 
on  the  horizon  yonder  —  a  white  line  which  for  millen- 
nium after  millennium  has  stretched  over  this  sea,  and 
which  for  millenniums  to  come  shall  stretch  in  the  same 
way.  We  are  leaving  it,  and  leaving  no  trace  behind  us, 
for  the  track  of  our  little  caravan  across  the  endless 
plains  has  long  ago  disappeared.  A  new  life  is  begin- 
ning for  us ;  for  the  ice  it  is  ever  the  same. 

"  It  has  long  haunted  our  dreams,  this  land,  and  now 
it  comes  like  a  vision,  like  fairly -land.  Drift-white,  it 
arches  above  the  horizon  like  distant  clouds,  which  one 
is  afraid  will  disappear  every  minute.  The  most  wonder- 
ful thing  is  that  we  have  seen  this  land  all  the  time  with- 
out knowing  it.  I  examined  it  several  times  with  the 
telescope  from  '  Longing  Camp '  in  the  belief  that  it 
might  be  snow-fields,  but  always  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  was  only  clouds,  as   I   could   never  discover  any 


LAND   AT  LAST  319 

dark  point.  Then,  too,  it  seemed  to  change  form,  which, 
I  suppose,  must  be  attributed  to  the  mist  which  always  lay 
over  it;  but  it  always  came  back  again  at  the  same  place 
with  its  remarkable  regular  curves.  I  now  remember 
that  dark  crag  we  saw  east  of  us  at  the  camp,  and  which 
I  took  to  be  an  iceberg.  It  must  certainly  have  been  a 
little  islet*  of  some  kind. 

"  The  ice  was  worse  and  more  broken  than  ever  yes- 
terday ;  it  was,  indeed,  a  labor  to  force  one's  way  over 
pressure-ridges  like  veritable  mountains,  with  valleys  and 
clefts  in  between  ;  but  on  we  went  in  good  spirits,  and 
made  some  progress.  At  lanes  where  a  crossing  was 
difficult  to  find  we  did  not  hesitate  to  launch  kayaks  and 
sledges,  and  were  soon  over  in  this  manner.  Sometimes 
after  a  very  bad  bit  we  would  come  across  some  flat  ice 
for  a  short  distance,  and  over  this  we  would  go  like  wild- 
fire, splashing  through  ponds  and  puddles.  While  I  was 
on  ahead  at  one  time  yesterday  morning,  Johansen  went 
up  on  to  a  hummock  to  look  at  the  ice,  and  remarked  a 
curious  black  stripe  over  the  horizon ;  but  he  supposed  it 
to  be  only  a  cloud,  he  said,  and  I  thought  no  more  about 
the  matter.  When,  some  while  later,  I  also  ascended  a 
hummock  to  look  at  the  ice,  I  became  aware  of  the  same 
black  stripe ;  it  ran  obliquely  from  the  horizon  up  into 
what  I  supposed  to  be  a  white  bank  of  clouds.  The 
longer  I  looked  at  this  bank  and  stripe  the  more  unusual 

*This  supposition  is  extremely  doubtful. 


320  FARTHEST  NORTH 


I  thought  them,  until  I  was  constrained  to  fetch  the  glass. 
No  sooner  had  I  fixed  it  on  the  black  part  than  it  struck 
me  at  once  that  this  must  be  land,  and  that  not  far  off. 
There  was  a  large  snow-field  out  of  which  black  rocks 
projected.  It  was  not  long  before  Johansen  had  the  glass 
to  his  eye,  and  convinced  himself  that  we  really  had  land 
before  us.  We  both  of  us  naturally  became  in  the  high- 
est spirits.  I  then  saw  a  similar  white  arching  outline 
a  little  farther  east ;  but  it  was  for  the  most  part  covered 
with  white  mist,  from  which  it  could  hardly  be  distinguish- 
ed, and,  moreover,  was  continually  changing  form.  It  soon, 
however,  came  out  entirely,  and  was  considerably  larger 
and  higher  than  the  former,  but  there  was  not  a  black 
speck  to  be  seen  on  it.  So  this  was  what  land  looked  like, 
now  that  we  had  come  to  it !  I  had  imagined  it  in  many 
forms,  with  high  peaks  and  glittering  glaciers,  but  never 
like  this.  There  was  nothing  kindly  about  this,  but  it 
was  indeed  no  less  welcome ;  and  on  the  whole  we  could 
not  expect  it  to  be  otherwise  than  snow-covered,  with  all 
the  snow  which  falls  here. 

"  So  then  we  pitched  the  tent  and  had  a  feast  suited 
to  the  occasion :  lobscouse  made  of  potatoes  (for  the  last 
time  but  one ;  we  had  saved  them  long  for  this  occasion), 
pemmican,  dried  bear's  and  seal's  flesh,  and  bear  tongues, 
chopped  up  together.  After  this  was  a  second  course, 
consisting  of  bread-crumbs  fried  in  bear's  grease,  also 
vril-food  and  butter,  and  a  piece  of  chocolate  to  wind  up." 

We  thought  this  land  so  near  that  it  could  not  pos- 


5     o 
5     p 


=•     SO 


3  5'    t^ 


S  5     O 
5  3     ^ 

•1  Q 


LAND   AT  LAST  321 

sibly  take  long  to  reach  it,  certainly  not  longer  than  till 
next  evening.  Johansen  was  even  certain  that  we  should 
do  it  the  same  day,  but  nevertheless  thirteen  days  were 
to  elapse,  occupied  in  the  same  monotonous  drudgery 
over  the  drift-ice. 

On  July  25th  I  write:  "When  we  stopped  in  the 
fog  yesterday  evening  we  had  a  feeling  that  we  must 
have  come  well  under  land.  This  morning,  when  we 
turned  out,  the  first  thing  Johansen  did  when  he  went 
to  fetch  some  water  for  me  to  cook  with  was,  of  course, 
to  climb  up  on  the  nearest  hummock  and  look  at  the 
land.  There  it  lay,  considerably  nearer  than  before,  and 
he  is  quite  certain  that  we  shall  reach  it  before  night." 
I  also  discovered  a  new  land  to  our  west  (S.  60°  W. 
magnetic)  that  day ;  a  regular,  shield-like,  arched  outline, 
similar  to  the  other  land ;  and  it  was  low  above  the 
horizon,  and  appeared  to  be  a  long  way  off.* 

We  went  on  our  way  as  fast  as  we  could  across  lanes 
and  rough  ice,  but  did  not  get  far  in  the  day,  and  the 
land  did  not  seem  to  be  much  nearer.  In  reality  there 
was  no  difference  to  be  seen,  although  we  tried  to 
imagine  that  it  was  steadily  growing  higher.  On 
Saturday,  July  27th,  I  seem  to  have  a  suspicion  that 
in  point  of  fact  we  were  drifting  away  from  land,  I 
write :  "  The  wind  began  to  blow  from  the  S.S. W. 
(magnetic)  just    as   we   were   getting  off  yesterday,  and 


*  It  proved  later  that  this  must  be  Crown  Prince  Rudolf  Land. 
II.— 21 


322  FARTHEST  NORTH 

increased  as  the  day  went  on.  It  was  easy  to  perceive 
by  the  atmosphere  that  the  wind  was  driving  the  ice 
off  the  land,  and  land-lanes  formed  particularly  on  the 
east  side  of  it.  When  I  was  up  on  a  hummock  yester- 
day evening  I  observed  a  black  stripe  on  the  horizon 
under  land ;  I  examined  it  with  the  glass,  and,  as  I  had 
surmised,  there  was  an  ice-edge  or  glacier  stretching  far 
in  a  westerly  direction  ;  and  there  was  plainly  a  broad 
lane  in  front  of  it,  to  judge  by  the  dark  bank  of  mist 
which  lay  there.  It  seems  to  me  that  land  cannot 
be  far  off,  and  if  the  ice  is  tolerably  passable  we  may 
reach  it  to-day.  The  wind  continued  last  night,  but 
it  has  quieted  down  now,  and  there  is  sunshine  outside. 
We  try  by  ever)^  means  in  our  power  to  get  a  com- 
fortable night's  rest  in  our  new  bag  of  blankets.  We 
have  tried  lying  on  the  bare  ice,  on  the  '  ski,'  and  to- 
night on  the  bare  ice  again ;  but  it  must  be  confessed 
that  it  is  hard  and  never  will  be  very  comfortable ;  a 
little  chilly,  too,  when  one  is  wet ;  but  we  shall  appreci- 
ate a  good  warm  bed  all  the  more  when  we  get  it. 

"  Tuesday,  July  30th.  We  make  incredibly  slow 
progress ;  but  we  are  pushing  our  way  nearer  land  all  the 
same.*  Every  kind  of  hinderance  seems  to  beset  us : 
now  I  am  suffering  so  much  from  my  back  (lumbago }) 
that  yesterday  it  was  only  by  exerting  all  my  strength  of 
will  that  I  could  drag  myself  along.     In  difificult  places 

*  In  reality  we  were  probably  farther  from  it  than  before. 


LAND   AT  LAST 


323 


Johansen  had  to  help  me  with  my  sledge.  It  began 
yesterday,  and  at  the  end  of  our  march  he  had  to  go 
first  and  find  the  way.  Yesterday  I  was  much  worse,  and 
how  I  am   to-day  I  do  not  know  before  I  begin  to  walk; 


M^- 


'rl/t 


"  INCREDIBLY    SLOW    PROGRESS  " 


but  I  ought  to  be  thankful  that  I  can  drag  myself  along 
at  all,  though  it  is  with  endless  pain.  We  had  to  halt  and 
camp  on  account  of  rain  yesterday  morning  at  three, 
after  only  having  gone  nine  hours.  The  rain  succeeded 
in  making  us  wet  before  we  had  found  a  suitable  place 
for  the  tent.  Here  we  have  been  a  whole  day  while  it 
has  been  pouring  down,  and  we  have  hardly  become  drier. 
There  are  puddles  under  us  and  the  bag  is  soaked  on  the 
under-side.     The  wind  has  gone  round  to  the  west  just 


324  FARTHEST  NORTH 

now,  and  it  has  stopped  raining,  so  we  made  some  por- 
ridge for  breakfast  and  think  of  going  on  again ;  but  if  it 
should  begin  to  rain  again  we  must  stop,  as  it  will  not  do 
to  eet  wet  through  when  we  have  no  chana^e  of  clothes. 
It  is  anything  but  pleasant  as  it  is  to  lie  with  wet  legs 
and  feet  that  are  like  icicles,  and  not  have  a  dry  thread 
to  put  on.  Full-grown  Ross's  gulls  were  seen  singly 
four  times  to-day,  and  when  Johansen  was  out  to  fetch 
water  this  morning  he  saw  two.* 

"Wednesday, July  31st.  The  ice  is  as  disintegrated  and 
impracticable  as  can  well  be  conceived.  The  continual 
friction  and  packing  of  the  floes  against  each  other  grind 
up  the  ice  so  that  the  water  is  full  of  brash  and  small 
pieces ;  to  ferry  over  this  in  the  kayaks  is  impossible, 
and  the  search  is  long  before  we  eventually  find  a 
hazardous  crossing.  Sometimes  we  have  to  form  one  by 
pushing  small  floes  together,  or  must  ferry  the  sledges 
over  on  a  little  floe.  We  spend  much  time  and  labor  on 
each  single  lane,  and  progress  becomes  slow  in  this  way. 
My  back  still  painful,  Johansen  had  to  go  ahead  yesterday 
also ;  and  evening  and  morning  he  is  obliged  to  take  off 
my  boots  and  socks,  for  I  am  unable  to  do  it  myself. 
He  is  touchingly  unselfish,  and  takes  care  of  me  as  if  I 
were  a  child ;  everything  he  thinks  can  ease  me  he  does 
quietly,  without  my  knowing  it.  Poor  fellow,  he  has  to 
work  doubly  hard  now%  and  does  not  know  how  this  will 

*  We  saw  more  and  more  of  these  remarkable  birds  the  farther  we 
went. 


LAND   AT  LAST  325 

end.  I  feel  very  much  better  to-day,  however,  and  it  is 
to  be  hoped  shall  soon  be  all  right. 

"  Thursday,  August  ist.  Ice  with  more  obstacles 
than  here  —  is  it  to  be  found,  I  wonder.''  But  we  are 
working  slowly  on,  and,  that  being  the  case,  we  ought, 
perhaps,  to  be  satisfied.  We  have  also  had  a  change — a 
brilliantly  fine  day ;  but  it  seems  to  me  the  south  wind 
we  have  had,  and  which  opened  the  lanes,  has  put  us  a 
good  way  farther  off  land  again.  We  have  also  drifted 
a  long  distance  to  the  east,  and  no  longer  see  the  most 
westerly  land  with  the  black  rocks,  which  we  remarked 
at  first.  It  would  seem  ^s  if  the  Ross's  gulls  keep  to 
land  here ;  we  see  them  daily. 

"  One  thing,  however,  I  am  rejoicing  over;  my  back 
is  almost  well,  so  that  I  shall  not  delay  our  progress  any 
more.  I  have  some  idea  now  what  it  would  be  like  if 
one  of  us  became  seriously  ill.  Our  fate  would  then  be 
sealed,  I  think. 

"  Friday,  August  2d.  It  seems  as  if  everything  con- 
spired to  delay  us,  and  that  we  shall  never  get  away  from 
this  drift-ice.  My  back  is  well  again  now;  the  ice  was 
more  passable  yesterday  than  before,  so  that  we  nearly 
made  a  good  day's  march ;  but  in  return  wind  and  cur- 
rent set  us  from  shore,  and  we  are  farther  away  again. 
Against  these  two  enemies  all  fighting  is  in  vain,  I  am 
afraid.  We  have  drifted  far  off  to  the  southeast,  have 
got  the  north  point  of  the  land  about  due  west  of  us,  and 
we  are  now  in  about  81°  36'  N.     My  only  hope  now  is 


326  FARTHEST  NORTH 

that  this  drift  eastward,  away  from  land,  may  stop  or 
alter  its  course,  and  thus  bring  us  nearer  land.  It  is 
unfortunate  that  the  lanes  are  covered  with  young  ice, 
which  it  would  be  disastrous  to  put  the  kayaks  through. 
If  this  gets  worse,  things  will  look  very  bad.  Meanwhile 
we  have  nothing  to  do  but  go  on  as  fast  as  we  can.  If 
we  are  going  to  drift  back  into  the  ice  again,  then — 
then — 

"  Saturday,  August  3d.  Inconceivable  toil.  We 
never  could  go  on  with  it  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  we 
must.  We  have  made  wretchedly  little  progress,  even  if 
we  have  made  any  at  all.  We  have  had  no  food  for  the 
dogs  the  last  few  days  except  the  ivory-gulls  and  fulmars 
we  have  been  able  to  shoot,  and  that  has  been  a  couple  a 
day.  Yesterday  the  dogs  only  had  a  little  bit  of  blubber 
each. 

"  Sunday,  August  4th.  These  lanes  are  desperate 
work  and  tax  one's  strength.  We  often  have  to  go 
several  hundred  yards  on  mere  brash,  or  from  block  to 
block,  dragging  the  sledges  after  us,  and  in  constant  fear 
of  their  capsizing  into  the  water.  Johansen  was  very 
nearly  in  yesterday,  but,  as  always  hitherto,  he  managed 
to  save  himself.  The  dogs  fall  in  and  get  a  bath  contin- 
ually. 

"  Monday,  August  5th.  We  have  never  had  worse 
ice  than  yesterday,  but  we  managed  to  force  our  way 
on  a  little,  nevertheless,  and  two  happy  incidents  marked 
the  day :  the  first  was  that  Johansen  was  not  eaten  up  by 


l-% 


"this  inconceivable  toil 


LAND   AT  LAST 


329 


a  bear,  and  the  second,  that  we  saw  open  water  under  the 
glacier  edge  ashore. 

"  We  set  off  about  7  o'clock  yesterday  morning  and 
got  on  to  ice  as  bad  it  as  could  be.  It  was  as  if  some 
giant  had  hurled  down  enormous  blocks  pell-mell,  and 
had  strewn  wet  snow  in  betw^een  them  with  water  under- 
neath ;  and  into  this  we  sank  above  our  knees.  There 
were  also  numbers  of  deep  pools  in  between  the  blocks. 
It  was  like  toiling  over  hill  and  dale,  up  and  down  over 
block  after  block  and  ridge  after  ridge,  with  deep  clefts 
in  between ;  not  a  clear  space  big  enough  to  pitch  a 
tent  on  even,  and  thus  it  w^ent  on  the  whole  time.  To 
put  a  coping-stone  to  our  misery,  there  was  such  a  mist 
that  we  could  not  see  a  hundred  yards  in  front  of  us. 
After  an  exhausting  march  we  at  last  reached  a  lane 
where  we  had  to  ferry  over  in  the  kayaks.  After  having 
cleared  the  side  of  the  lane  from  young  ice  and  brash,  I 
drew  my  sledge  to  the  end  of  the  ice,  and  was  holding  it 
to  prevent  it  slipping  in,  when  I  heard  a  scufifle  behind 
me,  and  Johansen,  who  had  just  turned  round  to  pull 
his  sleda^e  flush  with  mine,*  cried,  '  Take  the  oun!'  I 
turned  round  and  saw  an  enormous  bear  throwins:  itself 


'& 


*  As  a  rule,  we  crossed  the  lanes  in  this  manner;  we  placed  the 
sledges,  with  the  kayaks  on,  side  by  side,  lashed  them  together,  stiff- 
ened them  by  running  the  snow-shoes  across  under  the  straps,  which 
also  steadied  them,  and  then  launched  them  as  they  were,  with  the  sledges 
lashed  underneath.  When  across,  we  had  only  to  haul  them  up  on  the 
other  side. 


330 


FARTHEST  NORTH 


on  him,  and  Johansen  on  his  back.  I  tried  to  seize  my 
gun,  which  was  in  its  case  on  the  fore-deck,  but  at  the 
same  moment  the  kayak  shpped  into  the  water.  My 
first  thought  was  to  throw  myself  into  the  water  over  the 
kayak  and  fire  from  there,  but  I  recognized  how  risky  it 
would  be.  I  began  to  pull  the  kayak,  with  its  heavy 
cargo,  on  to  the  high  edge  of  the  ice  again  as  quickly  as  I 
could,  and  was  on  my  knees  pulling  and  tugging  to  get 
at  my  gun.     I  had  no  time  to  look  round  and  see  what 


\\. 


YOU    MUST    LOOK  SHARP  !" 


was  going  on  behind  me,  when  I  heard  Johansen  quietly 
say,  '  You  must  look  sharp  if  you  want  to  be  in  time !' 

"  Look  sharp  ?     I  should  think  so  !    At  last  I  got  hold 
of  the  butt-end,  dragged  the  gun   out,  turned  round  in  a 


LAND   AT  LAST  331 

sitting  posture,  and  cocked  the  shot-barrel.  The  bear  was 
standing  not  two  yards  off,  ready  to  make  an  end  to  my 
doe,  '  Kaifas.'  There  was  no  time  to  lose  in  cocking  the 
other  barrel,  so  I  gave  it  a  charge  of  shot  behind  the  ear, 
and  it  fell  down  dead  between  us. 

"  The  bear  must  have  followed  our  track  like  a  cat, 
and,  covered  by  the  ice-blocks,  have  slunk  up  while  we 
were  clearing  the  ice  from  the  lane  and  had  our  backs  to 
him.  We  could  see  by  the  trail  how  it  had  crept  over  a 
small  ridge  just  behind  us  under  cover  of  a  mound  by 
Johansen's  kayak.  While  the  latter,  without  suspecting 
anything  or  looking  round,  went  back  and  stooped  down 
to  pick  up  the  hauling-rope,  he  suddenly  caught  sight 
of  an  animal  crouched  up  at  the  end  of  the  kayak,  but 
thought  it  was  '  Suggen ';  and  before  he  had  time  to  real- 
ize that  it  was  so  big  he  received  a  cuff  on  the  ear  which 
made  him  see  fireworks,  and  then,  as  I  mentioned  before, 
over  he  went  on  his  back.  He  tried  to  defend  himself 
as  best  he  could  with  his  fists.  With  one  hand  he  seized 
the  throat  of  the  animal,  and  held  fast,  clinching  it  with 
all  his  might.  It  was  just  as  the  bear  was  about  to  bite 
Johansen  in  the  head  that  he  uttered  the  memorable 
words,  "  Look  sharp  !"  The  bear  kept  glancing  at  me  con- 
tinually, speculating,  no  doubt,  as  to  what  I  was  going  to 
do ;  but  then  caught  sight  of  the  doo;  and  turned  towards 
it.  Johansen  let  go  as  quick  as  thought,  and  wriggled 
himself  away,  while  the  bear  gave  '  Suggen '  a  cuff  which 
made  him  howl  lustily,  just  as   he   does  when  we  thrash 


332  FARTHEST  NORTH 

him.  Then  '  Kaifas '  got  a  slap  on  the  nose.  Meanwhile 
Johansen  had  struggled  to  his  legs,  and  when  I  fired  had 
got  his  gun,  which  was  sticking  out  of  the  kayak  hole. 
The  only  harm  done  was  that  the  bear  had  scraped  some 
grime  off  Johansen's  right  cheek,  so  that  he  has  a  white 
stripe  on  it,  and  had  given  him  a  slight  wound  in  one 
hand ;  '  Kaifas '  had  also  got  a  scratch  on  his  nose. 

"  Hardly  had  the  bear  fallen  before  we  saw  two  more 
peeping  over  a  hummock  a  little  way  off — cubs,  who 
naturally  wanted  to  see  the  result  of  the  maternal  chase. 
They  were  two  large  cubs.  I  thought  it  was  not  worth 
while  to  sacrifice  a  cartridge  on  them,  but  Johansen  ex- 
pressed his  opinion  that  young  bear's  flesh  was  much  more 
delicate  in  flavor  than  old.  He  would  only  shoot  one,  he 
said,  and  started  off.  However,  the  cubs  took  to  their 
heels,  although  they  came  back  a  little  while  later,  and  we 
could  hear  them  at  a  long  distance  growling  after  their 
mother. 

"Johansen  sent  one  of  them  a  ball,  but  the  range  was 
too  long,  and  he  only  wounded  it.  With  some  terrific 
growls  it  started  off  again,  and  Johansen  after  it ;  but  he 
gave  up  the  chase  soon,  as  he  saw  it  promised  to  be  a 
long  one.  While  we  were  cutting  up  the  she-bear  the 
cubs  came  back  on  the  other  side  of  the  lane,  and  the 
whole  time  we  were  there  we  had  them  walking  round 
us.  When  we  had  fed  the  dogs  well,  and  had  eaten 
some  of  the  raw  meat  ourselves,  and  had  furthermore 
stowed   away  in   the   kayaks   the   meat   we   had   cut    off 


LAND   AT  LAST  333 

the  legs,  we  at  last  ferried  over  the  lane  and  went  on 
our  way. 

"  The  ice  was  not  good ;  and,  to  make  bad  worse,  we 
immediately  came  on  some  terrible  lanes,  full  of  nothing 
but  tightly  packed  lumps  of  ice.  In  some  places  there 
were  whole  seas  of  it,  and  it  was  enough  to  make  one 
despair.  Among  all  this  loose  ice  we  came  on  an  un- 
usually thick  old  floe,  with  high  mounds  on  it  and  pools 
in  between.  It  was  from  one  of  these  mounds  that  I 
observed  through  the  glass  the  open  water  at  the  foot  of 
the  glacier,  and  now  we  cannot  have  far  to  go.  But  the 
ice  looks  very  bad  on  ahead,  and  each  piece  when  it  is 
like  this  may  take  a  long  time  to  travel  over. 

"  As  we  went  along  we  heard  the  wounded  bear  low- 
ing ceaselessly  behind  us ;  it  filled  the  whole  of  this  si- 
lent world  of  ice  with  its  bitter  plaint  over  the  cruelty 
of  man.  It  was  miserable  to  hear  it ;  and  if  we  had  had 
time  we  should  undoubtedly  have  gone  back  and  sacri- 
ficed a  cartridge  on  it.  We  saw  the  cubs  go  off  to  the 
place  where  the  mother  was  lying,  and  thought  to  our- 
selves that  we  had  got  rid  of  them,  but  heard  them  soon 
afterwards,  and  even  when  we  had  camped  they  were  not 
far  off. 

"  Wednesday,  August  7th.  At  last  we  are  under 
land ;  at  last  the  drift-ice  lies  behind  us,  and  before  us 
is  open  water — open,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  to  the  end.  Yes- 
terday was  the  day.  When  we  came  out  of  the  tent 
the  evening  of  the  day  before  yesterday  we  both  thought 


334  FARTHEST  NORTH 

we  must  be  nearer  the  edge  of  the  glacier  than  ever, 
and  with  fresh  courage,  and  in  the  faint  hope  of  reach- 
ing land  that  day,  we  started  on  our  journey.  Yet  we 
dared  not  think  our  life  on  the  drift-ice  was  so  nearly 
at  an  end.  After  wandering  about  on  it  for  five  months 
and  suffering  so  many  disappointments,  we  were  only 
too  well  prepared  for  a  new  defeat.  We  thought,  how- 
ever, that  the  ice  looked  more  promising  farther  on, 
though  before  we  had  gone  far  we  came  to  broad  lanes 
full  of  slush  and  foul,  uneven  ice,  with  hills  and  dales, 
and  deep  snow  and  water,  into  which  we  sank  up  to  our 
thighs.  After  a  couple  of  lanes  of  this  kind,  matters  im- 
proved a  little,  and  we  got  on  to  some  flat  ice.  After 
having  gone  over  this  for  a  while,  it  became  apparent 
how  much  nearer  we  were  to  the  edo^e  of  the  srlacier. 
It  could  not  possibly  be  far  off  now.  We  eagerly  har- 
nessed ourselves  to  the  sledges  again,  put  on  a  spurt, 
and  away  we  went  through  snow  and  water,  over  mounds 
and  ridges.  We  went  as  hard  as  we  could,  and  what 
did  we  care  if  we  sank  into  water  till  far  above  our  fur 
leggings,  so  that  both  they  and  our  '  komager '  filled  and 
gurgled  like  a  pump  ?  What  did  it  matter  to  us  now,  so 
long  as  we  got  on? 

"  We  soon  reached  plains,  and  over  them  we  went 
quicker  and  quicker.  We  waded  through  ponds  where 
the  spray  flew  up  on  all  sides.  Nearer  and  nearer  we 
came,  and  by  the  dark  water -sky  before  us,  which  con- 
tinually rose  higher,  we  could  see  how  we  were  drawing 


LAND   AT  LAST  335 

near  to  open  water.  We  did  not  even  notice  bears  now. 
There  seemed  to  be  plenty  about,  tracks,  both  old  and 
new,  crossing  and  recrossing ;  one  had  even  inspected 
the  tent  while  we  were  asleep,  and  by  the  fresh  trail  we 
could  see  how  it  had  come  down  wind  in  lee  of  us.  We 
had  no  use  for  a  bear  now ;  we  had  food  enough.  We 
were  soon  able  to  see  the  open  water  under  the  wall  of 
the  glacier,  and  our  steps  lengthened  even  more.  As  I 
was  striding  along  I  thought  of  the  march  of  the  Ten 
Thousand  through  Asia,  when  Xenophon's  soldiers,  after 
a  year's  war  against  superior  forces,  at  last  saw  the  sea 
from  a  mountain  and  cried,  '  Thalatta !  thalatta !'  Maybe 
this  sea  was  just  as  welcome  to  us  after  our  months  in 
the  endless  white  drift-ice. 

"  At  last,  at  last,  I  stood  by  the  edge  of  the  ice.  Be- 
fore me  lay  the  dark  surface  of  the  sea,  with  floating 
white  floes ;  far  away  the  glacier  wall  rose  abruptly  from 
the  water;  over  the  whole  lay  a  sombre,  foggy  light. 
Joy  welled  up  in  our  hearts  at  this  sight,  and  we  could 
not  give  it  expression  in  words.  Behind  us  lay  all  our 
troubles,  before  us  the  waterway  home.  I  waved  my 
hat  to  Johansen,  who  w^as  a  little  w^ay  behind,  and  he 
waved  his  in  answer  and  shouted  '  Hurrah !'  Such  an 
event  had  to  be  celebrated  in  some  way,  and  we  did  it 
by  having  a  piece  of  chocolate  each. 

"  While  we  were  standing  there  looking  at  the  water 
the  large  head  of  a  seal  came  up,  and  then  disappeared 
silently  ;  but  soon  more  appeared.     It  is  very  reassuring 


336  FARTHEST  NORTH 

to  know  that  we  can  procure  food  at  any  minute  we 
like. 

"  Now  came  the  rigging  of  the  kayaks  for  the  voy- 
age. Of  course,  the  better  way  would  have  been  to  pad- 
dle singly,  but,  with  the  long,  big  sledges  on  the  deck, 
this  was  not  easy,  and  leave  them  behind  I  dared  not ; 
we  might  have  good  use  for  them  yet.  For  the  time 
being,  therefore,  there  was  nothing  else  to  be  done  but 
to  lash  the  two  kayaks  together  side  by  side  in  our  usual 
manner,  stiffen  them  out  with  snow-shoes  under  the 
straps,  and  place  the  sledges  athwart  them,  one  before 
and  one  behind. 

"It  was  sad  to  think  we  could  not  take  our  two  last 
dogs  with  us,  but  we  should  probably  have  no  further 
use  for  them,  and  it  would  not  have  done  to  take  them 
with  us  on  the  decks  of  our  kayaks.  We  were  sorry  to 
part  with  them ;  we  had  become  very  fond  of  these  two 
survivors.  Faithful  and  enduring,  they  had  followed  us 
the  whole  journey  through ;  and,  now  that  better  times 
had  come,  they  must  say  farewell  to  life.  Destroy  them 
in  the  same  way  as  the  others  we  could  not ;  we  sacri- 
ficed a  cartridge  on  each  of  them.  I  shot  Johansen's, 
and  he  shot  mine. 

"  So  then  we  were  ready  to  set  off.  It  was  a  real 
pleasure  to  let  the  kayaks  dance  over  the  water  and 
hear  the  little  waves  plashing  against  the  sides.  For 
two  years  we  had  not  seen  such  a  surface  of  water  be- 
fore us.     We  had  not  gone  far  before  we  found  that  the 


^      O 


":^ 


ON 


CO 
Cn 


LAND   AT  LAST  339 

wind  was  so  good  that  we  ought  to  make  use  of  it,  and 
so  we  rigged  up  a  sail  on  our  fleet.  We  glided  easily 
before  the  wind  in  towards  the  land  we  had  so  longed  for 
all  these  many  months.  What  a  change,  after  having 
forced  one's  way  inch  by  inch  and  foot  by  foot  on  ice ! 
The  mist  had  hidden  the  land  from  us  for  a  while,  but 
now  it  parted,  and  we  saw  the  glacier  rising  straight  in 
front  of  us.  At  the  same  moment  the  sun  burst  forth, 
and  a  more  beautiful  morning  I  can  hardly  remember. 
We  were  soon  underneath  the  glacier,  and  had  to  lower 
our  sail  and  paddle  westward  along  the  wall  of  ice,  which 
was  from  50  to  60  feet  in  height,  and  on  which  a  landing 
was  impossible.  It  seemed  as  if  there  must  be  little 
movement  in  this  glacier;  the  water  had  eaten  its  way 
deep  underneath  it  at  the  foot,  and  there  was  no  noise 
of  falling  fragments  or  the  cracking  of  crevasses  to  be 
heard,  as  there  generally  is  with  large  glaciers.  It  was 
also  quite  even  on  the  top,  and  no  crevasses  were  to  be 
seen.  Up  the  entire  height  of  the  wall  there  was  strati- 
fication, which  was  unusually  marked.  We  soon  dis- 
covered that  a  tidal  current  was  running  westsvard  along 
the  wall  of  the  glacier  with  great  rapidity,  and  took  ad- 
vantage of  it  to  make  good  progress.  To  find  a  camp- 
ing-ground, however,  was  not  easy,  and  at  last  we  were 
reduced  to  taking  up  our  abode  on  a  drifting  floe.  It 
was  glorious,  though,  to  go  to  rest  in  the  certainty  that 
we  should  not  wake  to  drudgery  in  the  drift-ice. 

"  When  we  turned  out  to-day  we  found  that  the   ice 


340  FARTHEST  NORTH 

had  packed  around  us,  and  I  do  not  know  yet  how  we 
shall  get  out  of  it,  though  there  is  open  water  not  far  off 
to  our  west. 

"  Thursday,  August  8th.  After  hauling  our  impedi- 
menta over  some  floes  we  got  into  open  water  yesterday 
without  much  difticulty.  When  we  had  reached  the 
edge  of  the  water  we  made  a  paddle  each  from  our  snow- 
shoe-staffs,  to  which  we  bound  blades  made  of  broken-off 
snow-shoes.  They  were  a  great  improvement  on  the 
somewhat  clumsy  paddles,  with  canvas  blades  lashed  to 
bamboo  sticks.  I  was  very  much  inclined  to  chop  off 
our  sledges,  so  that  they  would  only  be  half  as  long  as 
before ;  by  so  doing  we  could  carry  them  on  the  after- 
deck  of  the  kayaks,  and  could  thus  each  paddle  alone, 
and  our  advance  would  be  much  quicker  than  by  pad- 
dling the  twin  kayaks.  However,  I  thought,  perhaps,  it 
was  unadvisable.  The  water  looked  promising  enough 
on  ahead,  but  there  was  mist,  and  we  could  not  see  far; 
we  knew  nothing  of  the  country  or  the  coast  we  had 
come  to,  and  might  yet  have  good  use  for  the  sledges. 
We  therefore  set  off  in  our  double  kayak,  as  before,  with 
the  sledges  athwart  the  deck  fore  and  aft. 

"  The  mist  soon  rose  a  little.  It  was  then  a  dead  calm  ; 
the  surface  of  the  water  lay  like  a  great  mirror  before  us, 
with  bits  of  ice  and  an  occasional  floe  driftinor  on  it.  It 
was  a  marvellously  beautiful  sight,  and  it  was  indeed 
glorious  to  sit  there  in  our  light  vessels  and  glide  over 
the  surface  without  any  exertion.     Suddenly  a  seal  rose 


LAXD   AT  LAST  341 

in  front  of  us,  and  over  us  flew  continually  ivory-gulls 
and  fulmars  and  kittiwakes.  Little  auks  we  also  saw, 
and  some  Ross's  gulls,  and  a  couple  of  terns.  There 
was  no  want  of  animal  life  here,  nor  of  food  when  we 
should  require  it. 

"  We  found  open  water,  broader  and  broader,  as  we 
paddled  on  our  way  beside  the  wall  of  ice  ;  but  it  would 
not  clear  so  that  we  could  see  something  of  our  surround- 
ings.    The  mist  still  hung  obstinately  over  it. 

"Our  course  at  first  lay  west  to  north  (magnetic);  but 
the  land  always  trended  more  and  more  to  the  west  and 
southwest ;  the  expanse  of  water  grew  greater,  and  soon 
it  widened  out  to  a  large  sea,  stretching  in  a  south- 
westerly direction.  A  breeze  sprang  up  from  the  north- 
northeast,  and  tliere  was  considerable  motion,  which  was 
not  pleasant,  as  in  our  double  craft  the  seas  continually 
washed  up  between  the  two  and  wetted  us.  We  put  in 
towards  evening  and  pitched  the  tent  on  the  shore-ice, 
and  just  as  we  did  so  it  began  to  rain,  so  that  it  was  high 
time  to  be  under  a  roof. 

"Friday,  August  9th.  Yesterday  morning  we  had 
again  to  drag  the  sledges  with  the  kayaks  over  some  ice 
which  had  drifted  in  front  of  our  camping-ground,  and 
during  this  operation  I  managed  to  fall  into  the  water  and 
get  wet.  It  was  with  difficulty  we  finally  got  through  and 
out  into  open  water.  After  a  while  we  again  found  our 
way  closed,  and  were  obliged  to  take  to  hauling  over  some 
floes,  but  after  this  we  had  good  open  water  the  whole  day. 


342  FARTHEST  NORTH 

It  was  a  northeasterly  wind  which  had  set  the  ice  towards 
the  land,  and  it  was  lucky  we  had  got  so  far,  as  behind  us, 
to  judge  by  the  atmosphere,  the  sea  was  much  blocked. 
The  mist  hung  over  the  land  so  that  we  saw  little  of  it. 
According  as  we  advanced  we  were  able  to  hold  a  more 
southerly  course,  and,  the  wind  being  nearly  on  the  quarter, 
we  set  sail  about  i  o'clock,  and  continued  sailing  all  day 
till  we  stopped  yesterday  evening.  Our  sail,  however,  was 
interrupted  once  when  it  was  necessary  to  paddle  round 
an  ice-point  north  of  where  we  are  now  ;  the  contrary 
current  was  so  strong  that  it  was  as  much  as  we  could  do 
to  make  way  against  it,  and  it  was  only  after  considerable 
exertion  that  we  succeeded  in  doubling  the  point.  We 
have  seen  little  of  the  land  we  are  skirting  up  to  this, 
on  account  of  the  mist;  but  as  far  as  I  can  make  out 
it  consists  of  islands.  First  there  was  a  large  island 
covered  with  an  ice-sheet ;  then  west  of  it  a  smaller  one, 
on  which  are  the  two  crags  of  rock  which  first  made  us 
aware  of  the  vicinity  of  land ;  next  came  a  long  fjord  or 
sound,  with  massive  shore-ice  in  it ;  and  then  a  small, 
low  headland,  or  rather  an  island,  south  of  which  we  are 
now  encamped.  This  shore-ice  lying  along  the  land  is 
very  remarkable.  It  is  unusually  massive  and  uneven ; 
it  seems  to  be  composed  of  huge  blocks  welded  together, 
which  in  a  great  measure,  at  any  rate,  must  proceed  from 
the  ice -sheet.  There  has  also,  perhaps,  been  violent 
pressure  against  the  land,  which  has  heaved  the  sea-ice 
up   together  with  pieces  of  ice  from  the  calving  of  the 


LAND   AT  LAST  343 


crlacier,  and  the  whole  has  frozen  tosfether  into  a  con- 
glomerate  mass,  A  medium -sized  iceberg  lay  off  the 
headland  north  of  us,  where  the  current  was  so  strong. 
Where  we  are  now  lying,  however,  there  is  flat  fjord-ice 
between  the  low  island  here  and  a  larger  one  farther 
south. 

"  This  land  grows  more  of  a  problem,  and  I  am  more 
than  ever  at  a  loss  to  know  where  we  are.  It  is  very 
remarkable  to  me  that  the  coast  continually  trends  to  the 
south  instead  of  to  the  west.  I  could  explain  it  all  best 
by  supposing  ourselves  to  be  on  the  west  coast  of  the 
archipelago  of  Franz  Josef  Land,  were  it  not  that  the 
variation,  I  think,  is  too  great,  and  also  for  the  number 
of  Ross's  o"ulls  there  still  are.  Not  one  has  with  cer- 
tainty  been  seen  in  Spitzbergen,  and  if  my  supposition 
is  right,  this  should  not  be  far  off.  Yesterday  we  saw 
a  number  of  them  again ;  they  are  quite  as  common  here 
as  the  other  species  of  gull. 

"Saturday,  August  loth.  We  went  up  on  to  the 
little  islet  we  had  camped  by.  It  was  covered  by  a 
glacier,  which  curved  over  it  in  the  shape  of  a  shield; 
there  were  slopes  to  all  sides ;  but  so  slight  was  the 
gradient  that  our  snow-shoes  would  not  even  run  of  them- 
selves on  the  crust  of  snow.  From  the  ridjje  we  had 
a  fair  view,  and,  as  the  mist  lifted  just  then,  we  saw 
the  land  about  us  tolerably  well.  We  now  perceived 
plainly  that  what  we  had  been  skirting  along  was  only 
islands.     The  first  one  was  the  biggest.     The  other  land, 


344  FARTHEST  NORTH 

with  the  two  rocky  crags,  had,  as  we  could  see,  a  strip  of 
bare  land  along  the  shore  on  the  northwest  side.  Was 
it  there,  perhaps,  the  Ross's  gulls  congregated  and  had 
their  breeding-grounds  ?  The  island  to  our  south  also 
looked  large ;  it  appeared  to  be  entirely  covered  by  a 
glacier.*  Between  the  islands,  and  as  far  as  we  could 
perceive  southeast  and  east,  the  sea  was  covered  by  per- 
fectly flat  fjord-ice,  but  no  land  was  to  be  discerned  in 
that  direction.  There  were  no  icebergs  here,  though 
we  saw  some  later  in  the  day  on  the  south  side  of  the 
island  lying  to  the  south  of  us. 

"  The  glacier  covering  the  little  island  on  which  we 
stood  joined  the  fjord-ice  almost  imperceptibly;  only  a  few 
small  fissures  along  the  shore  indicated  where  it  probably 
began.  There  could  not  be  any  great  rise  and  fall  in 
the  ice  here,  consequent  on  the  tide,  as  the  fissures 
would  then,  as  a  matter  of  course,  have  been  consider- 
ably larger.  This  seemed  remarkable,  as  the  tidal  cur- 
rent ran  swift  as  a  river  here.  On  the  west  side  of  the 
island  there  lay  in  front  of  the  glacier  a  rampart  of  ice 
and  snow,  which  was  probably  formed  of  pieces  of  gla- 
cier-ice and  sea-ice  welded  together.  It  had  the  same 
character  as  the  massive  shore-ice  which  we  had  seen 
previously  running  along  the  land.     This  rampart  went 

*  The  first  island  I  called  "  Eva's  Island,"  the  second  "  Liv's  Island," 
and  the  little  one  we  were  then  on  "  Adelaide's  Island."  The  fourth 
island  south  of  us  had,  perhaps,  already  been  seen  by  Payer,  and  named 
by  him  "  Freeden  Island."  The  whole  group  of  islands  I  named  "  Hvidt- 
enland  "  (White  Land). 


LAND   AT  LAST  345 

over  imperceptibly  with  an  even  slope  into  the  glacier 
within   it. 

"  About  three  in  the  afternoon  we  finally  set  off  in 
open  water  and  sailed  till  eight  or  so  in  the  evening; 
the  water  was  then  closed,  and  we  were  compelled  to 
haul  the  fleet  over  flat  ice  to  open  water  on  the  other 
side.  But  here,  too,  our  progress  seemed  blocked,  and 
as  the  current  was  against  us  we  pitched  the  tent." 

On  August  loth  we  v/ere  "compelled  partly  to  haul 
our  sledges  over  the  ice,  partly  to  row  in  open  water  in 
a  southwesterly  direction.  When  we  reached  navigable 
waters  again,  we  passed  a  flock  of  walruses  lying  on  a 
floe.  It  was  a  pleasure  to  see  so  much  food  collected  at 
one  spot,  but  we  did  not  take  any  notice  of  them,  as,  for 
the  time  beinsf,  we  have  meat  and  blubber  enouoh.  After 
dinner  we  managed,  in  the  mist,  to  wander  down  a  long 
bav  into  the  shore-ice,  where  there  was  no  outlet;  we  had 
to  turn  back,  and  this  delayed  us  considerably.  We  now 
kept  a  more  westerly  course,  following  the  often  massive 
and  uneven  edge  of  the  ice ;  but  the  current  was  dead 
against  us,  and,  in  addition,  young  ice  had  been  forming 
all  day  as  we  rowed  along ;  the  weather  had  been  cold 
and  still,  with  falling  snow,  and  this  began  to  be  so  thick 
that  we  could  not  make  way  against  it  any  longer.  We 
therefore  went  ashore  on  the  ice,  and  hauled  until  ten  in 
the  evening. 

"  Bear-tracks,  old  and  new,  in  all  directions — both  the 
single  ones  of  old  bachelors  and  those  of  she-bears  with 


346  FARTHEST  NORTH 

cubs.  It  looks  as  if  they  had  had  a  general  rendezvous, 
or  as  if  a  flock  of  them  had  roamed  backward  and  for- 
ward. I  have  never  seen  so  many  bear-tracks  in  one 
place  in  my  life. 

"We  have  certainly  done  14  or  25  miles  to-day;  but 
still  I  think  our  progress  is  too  slow  if  we  are  to  reach 
Spitzbergen  this  year,  and  I  am  always  wondering  if  we 
ought  not  to  cut  the  ends  off  our  sledges,  so  that  each 
can  paddle  his  own  kayak.  This  young  ice,  however, 
which  grows  steadily  worse,  and  the  eleven  degrees  below 
freezing  we  now  have,  make  me  hold  my  hand.  Perhaps 
winter  is  upon  us,  and  then  the  sledges  may  be  very 
necessary. 

"  It  is  a  curious  sensation  to  paddle  in  the  mist,  as  we 
are  doing,  without  being  able  to  see  a  mile  in  front  of  us. 
The  land  we  found  we  have  left  behind  us.  We  are 
always  in  hopes  of  clear  weather,  in  order  to  see  where 
the  land  lies  in  front  of  us  —  for  land  there  must  be. 
This  flat,  unbroken  ice  must  be  attached  to  land  of  some 
kind ;  but  clear  weather  we  are  not  to  have,  it  appears. 
Mist  without  ceasing ;  we  must  push  on  as  it  is." 

After  having  hauled  some  distance  farther  over  the  ice 
we  came  to  open  water  again  the  following  day  (August 
nth)  and  paddled  for  four  or  five  hours.  While  I  was 
on  a  hummock  inspecting  the  waters  ahead,  a  huge 
monster  of  a  walrus  came  up  quite  near  us.  It  lay 
pufling  and  glaring  at  us  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  but 
we  took  no  notice  of  it,  got  into  our  kayaks,  and  went 


LAND   AT  LAST  347 

on.  Suddenly  it  came  up  again  by  the  side  of  us,  raised 
itself  hicrh  out  of  the  water,  snorted  so  that  the  air 
shook,  and  threatened  to  thrust  its  tusks  into  our  frail 
craft.  W'e  seized  our  ^uns,  but  at  the  same  moment  it 
disappeared,  and  came  up  immediately  afterwards  on  the 
other  side,  by  Johansen's  kayak,  where  it  repeated  the 
same  manoeuvre.  I  said  to  him  that  if  the  animal  showed 
signs  of  attacking  us  we  must  spend  a  cartridge  on  it. 
It  came  up  several  times  and  disappeared  again  ;  we 
could  see  it  down  in  the  water,  passing  rapidly  on  its  side 
under  our  vessels,  and,  afraid  lest  it  should  make  a  hole 
in  the  bottom  with  its  tusks,  we  thrust  our  paddles  down 
into  the  water  and  frightened  it  away  ;  but  suddenly  it 
came  up  again  right  by  Johansen's  kayak,  and  more 
savage  than  ever.  He  sent  it  a  charge  straight  in  the 
eyes,  it  uttered  a  terrific  bellow,  rolled  over,  and  dis- 
appeared, leaving  a  trail  of  blood  on  the  water  behind 
it.  We  paddled  on  as  hard  as  we  could,  knowing  that 
the  shot  might  have  dangerous  consequences,  but  we 
were  relieved  when  we  heard  the  walrus  come  up  far 
behind  us  at  the  place  where  it  had  disappeared. 

We  had  paddled  quietly  on,  and  had  long  forgotten 
all  about  the  walrus,  when  I  suddenly  saw  Johansen  jump 
into  the  air  and  felt  his  kayak  receive  a  violent  shock.  I 
had  no  idea  what  it  was,  and  looked  round  to  see  if  some 
block  of  floating  ice  had  capsized  and  struck  the  bottom 
of  his  kayak  ;  but  suddenly  I  saw  another  walrus  rise  up 
in  the  water  beside  us.     I  seized   my  gun,   and   as   the 


348  FARTHEST  NORTH 

animal  would  not  turn  its  head  so  that  I  could  aim  at 
a  spot  behind  the  ear,  where  it  is  more  easily  wounded, 
I  was  constrained  to  put  a  ball  in  the  middle  of  its  fore- 
head ;  there  was  no  time  to  be  lost.  Happily  this  was 
enough,  and  it  lay  there  dead  and  floating  on  the  water. 
With  great  difficulty  we  managed  to  make  a  hole  in 
the  thick  skin,  and  after  cutting  ourselves  some  strips 
of  blubber  and  meat  from  the  back  we  went  on  our  way 
again. 

At  seven  in  the  evening  the  tidal  current  turned  and 
the  channel  closed.  There  was  no  more  water  to  be  found. 
Instead  of  taking  to  hauling  over  the  ice,  we  determined 
to  wait  for  the  opening  of  the  channel  when  the  tide 
should  turn  next  day,  and  meanwhile  to  cut  off  the 
ends  of  our  sledo^es,  as  I  had  so  lono^  been  thinkinor  of 
doing,  and  make  ourselves  some  good  double  paddles, 
so  that  we  could  put  on  greater  pace,  and,  in  our  single 
kayaks,  make  the  most  of  the  channel  during  the  time 
it  was  open.  While  we  were  occupied  in  doing  this  the 
mist  cleared  off  at  last,  and  there  lay  land  stretched  out 
in  front  of  us,  extending  a  long  way  south  and  west  from 
S.E.  right  up  to  N.N.W.  It  appeared  to  be  a  chain  of 
islands  with  sounds  between  them.  They  were  chiefly 
covered  with  glaciers,  only  here  and  there  were  perpen- 
dicular black  mountain-walls  to  be  seen.  It  was  a  sight 
to  make  one  rejoice  to  see  so  much  land  at  one  time. 
But  where  were  we  ?  This  seemed  a  more  difficult  ques- 
tion to  answer  than  ever.     Could  we,  after  all,  have  ar- 


LAND   AT  LAST  349 

rived  at  the  east  side  of  Franz  Josef  Land  ?  It  seemed 
very  reasonable  to  suppose  this  to  be  the  case.  But  then 
we  must  be  very  far  east,  and  must  expect  a  long  voyage 
before  we  could  reach  Cape  Fligely,  on  Crown  Prince 
Rudolf  Land.  Meanwhile  we  worked  hard  to  get  the 
sledges  ready ;  but  as  the  mist  gradually  lifted  and  it 
became  clearer  and  clearer,  we  could  not  help  continu- 
ally leaving  them,  to  climb  up  on  to  the  hummock  be- 
side us  to  look  at  the  country,  and  speculate  on  this 
insoluble  problem.  We  did  not  get  to  bed  till  seven  in 
the  morning  of  August  12th. 

"  Tuesday,  August  1 3th.  After  having  slept  a  few 
hours,  we  turned  out  of  the  bag  again,  for  the  current 
had  turned,  and  there  was  a  wide  channel.  In  our 
single  kayaks  we  made  good  headway,  but  after  going 
about  five  miles  the  channel  closed,  and  we  had  to 
clamber  on  to  the  ice.  We  thought  it  advisable  to 
wait  until  the  tidal  current  turned,  and  see  if  there  were 
not  a  channel  running  farther.  If  not,  we  must  lash 
proper  grips  of  wood  to  our  curtailed  sledges,  and  com- 
mence hauling  towards  a  sound  running  through  the 
land,  which  I  see  about  W.N.W.  (true),  and  which,  ac- 
cording to  Payer's  chart,  I  take  to  be  Rawlinson's 
Sound." 

But  the  crack  did  not  open,  and  when  it  came  to  the 
point  we  had  to  continue  on  our  way  hauling. 

"Wednesday,  August  14th.  We  dragged  our  sledges 
and  loads  over  a  number  of  floes  and  ferried  across  lanes, 


350  FARTHES2'  NORTH 

arriving  finally  at  a  lane  which  ran  westward,  in  which 
we  could  paddle ;  but  it  soon  packed  together  again,  and 
we  were  stopped.  The  ivory -gulls  are  very  bold,  and 
last  night  stole  a  piece  of  blubber  lying  close  by  the 
tent  wall." 

The  following  day  we  had  to  make  our  way  as  well  as 
we  could  by  paddling  short  distances  in  the  lanes  or 
hauling  our  loads  over  floes  smaller  or  larger,  as  the 
case  might  be.  The  current,  which  was  running  like 
a  mill-race,  ground  them  together  in  its  career.  Our 
progress  with  our  short,  stumpy  sledges  was  nothing 
very  great,  and  of  water  suitable  for  paddling  in  we 
found  less  and  less.  We  stopped  several  times  and 
waited  for  the  ice  to  open  at  the  turn  of  the  tide,  but 
it  did  not  do  so,  and  on  the  morning  of  August  15th 
we  gave  it  up,  turned  inward,  and  took  to  the  shore-ice 
for  ffood.  We  set  our  course  westward  towards  the 
sound  v/e  had  seen  for  several  days  now,  and  had 
strussled  so  to  reach.  The  surface  of  the  ice  was 
tolerably  even  and  we  got  over  the  ground  well.  On 
the  way  we  passed  a  frozen-in  iceberg,  which  was  the 
highest  we  saw  in  these  parts — some  50  to  60  feet,  I 
should  say.*     I  wished  to  go  up  it  to  get  a  better  view 


*  Icebergs  of  considerable  size  have  been  described  as  having  been 
seen  off  Franz  Josef  Land,  but  I  can  only  say  with  reference  to  this  that 
during  the  whole  of  our  voyage  through  this  archipelago  we  saw  nothing 
of  the  kind.  The  one  mentioned  here  was  the  biggest  of  all  those  we 
came  across,  and  they  were,  compared  with  the  Greenland  icebergs,  quite 
insignificant  masses  of  glacier-ice. 


LAND   AT  LAST  353 

of  our  environment,  but  it  was  too  steep,  and  we  did 
not  get  higher  than  a  third  part  up  the  side. 

"  In  the  evening  we  at  last  reached  the  islands  we  had 
been  steering  for  for  the  last  few  days,  and  for  the  first 
time  for  two  years  had  bare  land  under  foot.  The 
delight  of  the  feeling  of  being  able  to  jump  from  block 
to  block  of  granite  *  is  indescribable,  and  the  delight 
was  not  lessened  when  in  a  little  sheltered  corner  amono- 
the  stones  we  found  moss  and  flowers,  beautiful  poppies 
{Papaver  niidicmtle)  Saxifraga  nivalis,  and  a  Stcllaria 
{sp.?).  It  goes  without  saying  that  the  Norwegian  flag 
had  to  wave  over  this  our  first  bare  land,  and  a  banquet 
was  prepared.  Our  petroleum,  meanwhile,  had  given 
out  several  days  previously,  and  we  had  to  contrive 
another  lamp  in  which  train-oil  could  be  used.  The 
smoking  hot  lobscouse,  made  of  pemmican  and  the  last 
of  our  potatoes,  was  delicious,  and  we  sat  inside  the  tent 
and  kicked  the  bare  grit  under  us  to  our  heart's  content. 

"  Where  we  are  is  becoming  more  and  more  incom- 
prehensible. There  appears  to  be  a  broad  sound  west 
of  us,  but  what  is  it }  The  island!  we  are  now  on,  and 
where  we  have  slept  splendidly  (this  is  written  on  the 
morning  of  August  i6th)  on  dry  land,  with  no  melting 
of  the  ice  in  puddles  underneath  us,  is  a  long  moraine- 
like   ridge    running    about   north  and  south  (magnetic), 

*  I  have  called  it  granite  in  my  diary,  but  it  was  in  reality  a  very 
coarse-grained  basalt.  The  specimens  I  took  have  unfortunately  been 
lost. 

t  "  Houen's  Island." 
II.-23 


354  FARTHEST  NORTH 

and  consists  almost  exclusively  of  small  and  large — gen- 
erally very  large — blocks  of  stone,  with,  I  should  say, 
occasional  stationary  crags.  The  blocks  are  in  a  meas- 
ure rounded  off,  but  I  have  found  no  striation  on  them. 
The  whole  island  barely  rises  above  the  snow-field  in 
which  it  lies,  and  which  slopes  in  a  gradual  decline  down 
to  the  surrounding  ice.  On  our  west  there  is  a  bare 
island,  somewhat  higher,  which  we  have  seen  for  several 
days.  Along  the  shore  there  is  a  decided  strand-line 
(terrace).  North  of  us  are  two  small  islets  and  a  small 
rock  or  skerry. 

"  As  I  mentioned  before  (August  1 3th)  I  had  at 
first  supposed  the  sound  on  our  west  to  be  Rawlinson's 
Sound,  but  this  now  appeared  impossible,  as  there  was 
nothing  to  be  seen  of  Dove  Glacier,  by  which  it  is 
bounded  on  one  side.  If  this  was  now  our  position,  we 
must  have  traversed  the  glacier  and  Wilczek  Land  with- 
out noticing  any  trace  of  either ;  for  we  had  travelled 
westward  a  good  half  degree  south  of  Cape  Buda-Pesth. 
The  possibility  that  we  could  be  in  this  region  we  conse- 
quently now  held  to  be  finally  excluded.  We  must  have 
come  to  a  new  land  in  the  western  part  of  Franz  Josef 
Land  or  Archipelago,  and  so  far  west  that  we  had  seen 
nothing  of  the  countries  discovered  by  Payer.  But  so 
far  west  that  we  had  not  even  seen  anything  of  Oscar  s 
Land,  which  ought  to  be  situated  in  82°  N.  and  52°  E. .? 
This  was  indeed  incomprehensible ;  but  was  there  any 
other  explanation } 


LAND   AT  LAST  355 

"  Saturday,  August  1 7th.  Yesterday  was  a  good  day. 
We  are  in  open  water  on  the  west  coast  of  Franz 
Josef  Land,  as  far  as  I  can  make  out,  and  may  again 
hope  to  get  home  this  year.  About  noon  yesterday  we 
walked  across  the  ice  from  our  moraine-islet  to  the  high- 
er  island  west  of  us.  As  I  was  ready  before  Johansen,  I 
went  on  first  to  examine  the  island  a  little.  As  he  was 
followino:  me  he  cauo^ht  sio^ht  of  a  bear  on  the  level  ice 
to  leeward.  It  came  jogging  up  against  the  wind  straight 
towards  him.  He  had  his  gun  ready,  but  when  a  little 
nearer  the  bear  stopped,  reconsidered  the  situation,  sud- 
denly turned  tail,  and  was  soon  out  of  sight. 

"  This  island*  we  came  to  seemed  to  me  to  be  one  of 
the  most  lovely  spots  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  A  beauti- 
ful fiat  beach,  an  old  strand-line  with  shells  strewn  about, 
a  narrow  belt  of  clear  water  along  the  shore,  where  snails 
and  sea-urchins  {Echiims)  were  visible  at  the  bottom  and 
amphipoda  were  swimming  about.  In  the  cliffs  over- 
head were  hundreds  of  screaming  little  auks,  and  beside 
us  the  snow-buntings  fluttered  from  stone  to  stone  with 
their  cheerful  twitter  Suddenly  the  sun  burst  forth 
through  the  light  fleecy  clouds,  and  the  day  seemed  to 
be  all  sunshine.  Here  were  life  and  bare  land ;  we  were 
no  longer  on  the  eternal  drift-ice  I  At  the  bottom  of 
the  sea  just  beyond  the  beach  I  could  see  whole  forests 
of   seaweed  {Laminar ia   and   Fucus).      Under  the   cliffs 

*  "  Torup's  Island." 


356  FARTHEST  NORTH 

here  and  there  were  drifts  of  beautiful  rose -colored 
snow.* 

"  On  the  north  side  of  the  island  we  found  the  breed- 
ing-place of  numbers  of  black-backed  gulls ;  they  were 
sitting  with  their  young  in  ledges  of  the  cliffs.  Of  course 
we  had  to  climb  up  and  secure  a  photograph  of  this 
unusual  scene  of  family  life,  and  as  we  stood  there  high 
up  on  the  cliff's  side  we  could  see  the  drift-ice  whence 
we  had  come.  It  lay  beneath  us  like  a  white  plain,  and 
disappeared  far  away  on  the  horizon.  Beyond  this  it 
was  we  had  journeyed,  and  farther  away  still  the  Fram 
and  our  comrades  were  drifting  yet. 

"  I  had  thought  of  going  to  the  top  of  this  island  to 
get  a  better  view,  and  perhaps  come  nearer  solving  the 
problem  of  our  whereabouts.  But  when  we  were  on  the 
west  side  of  it  the  mist  came  back  and  settled  on  the 
top;  we  had  to  content  ourselves  with  only  going  a  little 
way  up  the  slope  to  look  at  our  future  course  westward. 
Some  way  out  we  saw  open  water ;  it  looked  like  the  sea 
itself,  but  before  one  could  get  to  it  there  was  a  good 
deal  of  ice.  We  came  down  again  and  started  off. 
Along  the  land  there  was  a  channel  running  some  dis- 
tance farther,  and  we  tried  it,  but  it  was  covered  every- 
where with  a  thin  layer  of  new  ice,  which  we  did  not  dare 


*  This  color  is  owing  to  a  beautiful  minute  red  alga,  which  grows  on 
the  snow  (generally  Spaej-ella  nivalis).  There  were  also  some  yellowish- 
green  patches  in  this  snow,  which  must  certainly  be  attributed  to  another 
species  of  alga. 


LAND   AT  LAST  357 

to  break  through  in  our  kayaks,  and  risk  cutting  a  hole 
in  them ;  so,  finally,  a  little  way  farther  south  we  put  in 
to  drag  up  the  kayaks  and  take  to  the  ice  again.  While 
we  were  doins:  this  one  hus^e  bearded  seal  after  another 
stuck  its  head  up  by  the  side  of  the  ice  and  gazed  won- 
deringly  at  us  with  its  great  eyes  ;  then,  with  a  violent 
header,  and  splashing  the  water  in  all  directions,  it  would 
disappear,  to  come  up  again  soon  afterwards  on  the  other 
side.  They  kept  playing  around  us,  blowing,  diving,  re- 
appearing, and  throwing  themselves  over  so  that  the 
water  foamed  round  them.  It  would  have  been  easy 
enough  to  capture  one  had  we  required  it. 

"  At  last,  after  a  good  deal  of  exertion,  we  stood  at  the 
margin  of  the  ice ;  the  blue  expanse  of  water  lay  before 
us  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  and  we  thought  that  for 
the  future  we  had  to  do  with  it  alone.  To  the  north* 
there  was  land,  the  steep,  black,  basalt  cliffs  of  which  fell 
perpendicularly  into  the  sea.  We  saw  headland  after 
headland  standing  out  northward,  and  farthest  off  of  all 
we  could  descry  a  bluish  glacier.  The  interior  was 
everywhere  covered  with  an  ice-sheet.  Below  the  clouds, 
and  over  the  land,  was  a  strip  of  ruddy  night  sky,  which 
was  reflected  in  the  melancholy,  rocking  sea. 

"  So  we  paddled  on  along  the  side  of  the  glacier 
which  covered  the  whole  country  south  of  us.  We 
became  more   and   more  excited   as   we  approached  the 

*  It  proved  later  to  be  Crown  Prince  Rudolf's  Land. 


358  FARTHEST  NORTH 

headland  to  the  west.  Would  the  coast  trend  south 
here,  and  was  there  no  more  land  westward  ?  It  was 
this  we  expected  to  decide  our  fate — decide  whether  we 
should  reach  home  that  year  or  be  compelled  to  winter 
somewhere  on  land.  Nearer  and  nearer  we  came  to  it 
along  the  edge  of  the  perpendicular  wall  of  ice.  At  last 
we  reached  the  headland,  and  our  hearts  bounded  with 
joy  to  see  so  much  water — only  water — westward,  and  the 
coast  trending  southwest.  We  also  saw  a  bare  moun- 
tain projecting  from  the  ice-sheet  a  little  way  farther  on ; 
it  was  a  curious  high  ridge,  as  sharp  as  a  knife- blade. 
It  was  as  steep  and  sharp  as  anything  I  have  seen ;  it 
was  all  of  dark,  columnar  basalt,  and  so  jagged  and 
peaked  that  it  looked  like  a  comb.  In  the  middle  of 
the  mountain  there  was  a  gap  or  couloir,  and  there  we 
crept  up  to  inspect  the  sea-way  southward.  The  wall  of 
rock  was  anything  but  broad  there,  and  fell  away  on  the 
south  side  in  a  perpendicular  drop  of  several  hundred 
feet.  A  cutting  wind  was  blowing  in  the  couloir.  While 
we  were  lying  there,  I  suddenly  heard  a  noise  behind  me, 
and  on  lookino;  around  I  saw  two  foxes  fis^htinof  over  a 
little  auk  which  they  had  just  caught.  They  clawed  and 
tugged  and  bit  as  hard  as  they  could  on  the  very  edge 
of  the  chasm ;  then  they  suddenly  caught  sight  of  us,  not 
twenty  feet  away  from  them.  They  stopped  fighting, 
looked  up  wonderingly,  and  began  to  run  around  and 
peep  at  us,  first  from  one  side,  then  from  the  other.  Over 
us  myriads  of   little    auks   flew   backward    and  forward. 


LAXD   AT  LAST 


359 


"^^scri 


A  PADDLE  ALONG  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  ICE 


screaming  shrilly  from  the  ledges  in  the  mountain-side. 
So  far  as  we  could  make  out,  there  appeared  to  be  open 
sea  along  the  land  to  the  westward.  The  wind  w^as  fa- 
vorable, and  although  we  were  tired  we  decided  to  take 
advantage  of  the  opportunity,  have  something  to  eat,  rig 


36o  FARTHEST  NORTH 

up  mast  and  sail  on  our  canoes,  and  get  afloat.  We 
sailed  till  the  morning,  when  the  wind  went  down,  and 
then  we  landed  on  the  shore-ice  again  and  camped.* 

"  I  am  as  happy  as  a  child  in  the  thought  that  we  are 
now  at  last  really  on  the  west  coast  of  Franz  Josef  Land, 
with  open  water  before  us,  and  independent  of  ice  and 
currents. 

"  Wednesday,  August  24th.  The  vicissitudes  of  this 
life  will  never  come  to  an  end.  When  I  wrote  last  I  was 
full  of  hope  and  courage ;  and  here  we  are  stopped  by 
stress  of  weather  for  four  days  and  three  nights,  with  the 
ice  packed  as  tight  as  it  can  be  against  the  coast.  We 
see  nothing  but  piled-up  ridges,  hummocks,  and  broken 
ice  in  all  directions.  Courage  is  still  here,  but  hope — 
the  hope  of  soon  being  home — that  was  relinquished  a 
long  time  ago,  and  before  us  lies  the  certainty  of  a  long, 
dark  winter  in  these  surroundings. 

"It  was  at  midnight  between  the  17th  and  i8th  that  we 
set  off  from  our  last  camping-ground  in  splendid  weather. 
Though  it  was  cloudy  and  the  sun  invisible,  there  was 
along  the  horizon  in  the  north  the  most  glorious  ruddy 
glow  with  golden  sun  -  tipped  clouds,  and  the  sea  lay 
shining  and  dreamy  in  the  distance :  a  marvellous  night. 
.  .  .  On  the  surface  of  the  sea,  smooth  as  a  mirror, 
without  a  block  of  ice  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  glided 
the   kayaks,  the  water  purling  off  the  paddles  at  every 

*  Off  Brogger's  Foreland. 


LAND   AT  LAST  363 


silent  stroke.  It  was  like  being  in  a  gondola  on  the 
Canale  Grande.  But  there  was  something  almost  un- 
canny about  all  this  stillness,  and  the  barometer  had 
gone  down  rapidly.  Meanwhile,  we  sped  towards  the 
headland  in  the  south -southwest,  which  I  thought  was 
about  12  miles  off.*  After  some  hours  we  espied  ice 
ahead,  but  both  of  us  thought  that  it  was  only  a  loose 
chain  of  pieces  drifting  with  the  current,  and  we  paddled 
confidently  on.  But  as  we  gradually  drew  nearer  we  saw 
that  the  ice  was  fairly  compact,  and  extended  a  greater 
and  greater  distance ;  though  from  the  low  kayaks  it 
was  not  easy  to  see  the  exact  extent  of  the  pack.  We 
accordingly  disembarked  and  climbed  up  on  a  hummock 
to  find  out  our  best  route.  The  sight  which  met  us 
was  anything  but  encouraging.  Off  the  headland  we 
were  steering  for  were  a  number  of  islets  and  rocks,  ex- 
tending  some  distance  out  to  sea ;  it  was  they  that  were 
locking  the  ice,  which  lay  in  every  direction,  between 
them  and  outside  them.  Near  us  it  was  slack,  but  farther 
off  it  looked  much  worse,  so  that  further  advance  by  sea 
was  altogether  out  of  the  c^uestion.  Our  only  expedient 
was  to  take  to  the  edge  of  the  shore-ice,  and  hope  for 
the  chance  that  a  lane  might  run  along  it  some  way  far- 
ther on.  On  the  way  in  we  passed  a  seal  lying  on  a  floe, 
and  as  our  larder  was  beginning  to  grow  empty,  I  tried  to 
get  a  shot  at  it,  but  it  dived  into  the  water  before  we  came 


within  range. 


Clements  Markham's  Foreland. 


364  FARTHEST  NORTH 

"  As  we  were  paddling  along  through  some  small  bits 
of  ice  my  kayak  suddenly  received  a  violent  shock  from 
underneath.  I  looked  round  in  amazement,  as  I  had 
not  noticed  any  large  piece  of  ice  hereabouts.  There 
was  nothing  of  the  kind  to  be  seen  either,  but  worse 
enemies  were  about.  No  sooner  had  I  glanced  down 
than  I  saw  a  huge  walrus  cleaving  through  the  water 
astern,  and  it  suddenly  came  up,  raised  itself  and  stood  on 
end  just  before  Johansen,  who  was  following  in  my  wake. 
Afraid  lest  the  animal  should  have  its  tusks  through  the 
deck  of  his  craft  the  next  minute,  he  backed  as  hard 
as  he  could  and  felt  for  his  gun,  which  he  had  down 
in  the  kayak.  I  was  not  long  either  in  pulling  my  gun 
out  of  its  cover.  The  animal  crashed  snortinor  into  the 
water  again,  however,  dived  under  Johansen's  kayak,  and 
came  up  just  behind  him.  Johansen,  thinking  he  had 
had  enough  of  such  a  neighbor,  scrambled  incontinently 
on  to  the  floe  nearest  him.  After  having  waited  awhile, 
with  my  gun  ready  for  the  walrus  to  come  up  close  by 
me,  I  followed  his  example.  I  very  nearly  came  in  for 
the  cold  bath  which  the  walrus  had  omitted  to  give  me, 
for  the  edge  of  the  ice  gave  way  just  as  I  set  my  foot  on 
it,  and  the  kayak  drifted  off  with  me  standing  upright  in 
it,  and  trying  to  balance  it  as  best  I  could,  in  order  not 
to  capsize.  If  the  walrus  had  reappeared  at  that  mo- 
ment I  should  certainly  have  received  it  in  its  own  ele- 
ment. Finally,  I  succeeded  in  getting  up  on  to  the  ice,  and 
for  a  long  time  afterwards  the  walrus  swam  round  and 


LAND   AT  LAST  365 

round  our  floe,  where  we  made  the  best  of  the  situation 
by  having  dinner.  Sometimes  it  was  near  Johansen's 
kayak,  sometimes  near  mine.  We  could  see  how  it 
darted  about  in  the  water  under  the  kayaks,  and  it  had 
evidently  the  greatest  desire  to  attack  us  again.  We 
thought  of  giving  it  a  ball  to  get  rid  of  it,  but  had  no 
great  wish  to  part  with  a  cartridge,  and,  besides,  it  only 
showed  us  its  nose  and  forehead,  which  are  not  exactly 
the  most  vital  spots  to  aim  at  when  one's  object  is  to 
kill  with  one  shot.  It  was  a  great  ox- walrus.  There 
is  something  remarkably  fantastic  and  prehistoric  about 
these  monsters.  I  could  not  help  thinking  of  a  merman, 
or  something  of  the  kind,  as  it  lay  there  just  under  the 
surface  of  the  water,  blowing  and  snorting  for  quite  a 
long  while  at  a  time,  and  glaring  at  us  with  its  round 
glassy  eyes.  After  having  continued  in  this  way  for 
some  time,  it  disappeared  just  as  tracklessly  as  it  had 
come ;  and  as  we  had  finished  our  dinner  we  were  able 
to  go  on  our  way  again,  glad,  a  second  time,  not  to  have 
been  upset  or  destroyed  by  its  tusks.  The  most  curious 
thing  about  it  was  that  it  came  so  entirely  without  warn- 
ing— suddenly  rising  up  from  the  deep.  Johansen  had 
certainly  heard  a  great  splash  behind  him  some  time  be- 
fore, which  he  took  to  be  a  seal,  but  perhaps  it  may  have 
been  the  walrus. 

"  The  lane  alonor  the  shore-ice  sfave  us  little  satisfac- 
tion,  as  it  was  completely  covered  with  young  ice  and  we 
could  make  no  way.     In  addition  to  this,  a  wind  from  the 


366  FARTHEST  NORTH 

S.S.W.  sprang  up,  which  drove  the  ice  on  to  us,  so  there 
was  nothing  for  it  but  to  put  in  to  the  edge  of  the  ice 
and  wait  until  it  should  slacken  again.  We  spread  out 
the  bag,  folded  the  tent  over  us,  and  prepared  for  rest  in 
the  hope  of  soon  being  able  to  go  on.  But  this  was 
not  to  be ;  the  wind  freshened,  the  ice  packed  tighter  and 
tighter,  there  was  soon  no  open  water  to  be  seen  in  any 
direction,  and  even  the  open  sea,  whence  we  had  come, 
disappeared;  all  our  hopes  of  getting  home  that  year 
sank  at  one  blow.  After  a  while  we  realized  that  there 
was  nothing  to  be  done  but  to  drag  our  loads  farther 
in  on  to  the  shore-ice  and  camp.  To  try  and  haul  the 
canoes  farther  over  this  pack,  which  was  worse  than  any 
ice  we  had  come  across  since  we  began  our  voyage, 
we  thought  was  useless.  We  should  get  very  little 
distance  in  the  day,  and  it  might  cost  us  dear  with  the 
kayaks  on  the  short  sledges,  among  all  these  ridges 
and  hummocks ;  and  so  we  lay  there  day  and  night 
waiting  for  the  wind  to  go  down  or  to  change.  But  it 
blew  from  the  same  quarter  the  whole  time,  and  matters 
were  not  improved  by  a  heavy  fall  of  snow  which  made 
the  ice  absolutely  impracticable. 

"  Our  situation  was  not  an  attractive  one  ;  in  front  of  us 
massive  broken  sea-ice  close  by  land,  and  the  gods  alone 
know  if  it  will  open  again  this  year  ;  a  good  way  behind 
us   land*  which  looked  anything  but  inviting  to  spend 

*  Helland's  Foreland. 


f 


LAND   AT  LAST  369 

the  winter  on ;  around  us  impassable  ice,  and  our  prov- 
ender very  much  on  the  decHne.  The  south  coast  of 
the  country  and  Eira  Harbor  now  appeared  to  our  im- 
agination a  veritable  land  of  Canaan,  and  we  thouo;ht 
that  if  only  we  were  there  all  our  troubles  would  be  over. 
We  hoped  to  be  able  to  find  Leigh  Smith's  hut  there,  or, 
at  any  rate,  some  remains  of  it,  so  that  we  should  have 
something  to  live  in  ;  and  we  also  hoped  that  where  there 
no  doubt  was  much  open  water  it  would  be  easy  to  find 
game.  We  regretted  not  having  shot  some  seals  while 
they  were  numerous  ;  on  the  night  when  we  left  our  last 
camping -place  there  were  plenty  of  them  about.  As 
Johansen  was  standing  on  the  edge  of  the  ice  doing 
something  to  his  kayak,  a  seal  came  up  just  in  front  of 
him.  He  thought  it  was  of  a  kind  he  had  not  seen  be- 
fore, and  shouted  to  me.  But  at  the  same  moment  up 
came  one  black  poll  after  another  quiet  and  silent,  from 
ten  to  twenty  in  number,  all  gazing  at  him  with  their 
great  eyes.  He  was  quite  nonplussed,  thought  there  was 
something  uncanny  about  it,  and  then  they  disappeared 
just  as  noiselessly  as  they  had  come. 

"  I  consoled  him  by  telling  him  they  really  were  of 
a  kind  we  had  not  seen  before  on  our  journey ;  they 
were  young  harp,  or  saddleback  seal  {Phoca  groeiilan- 
dica).  We  saw  several  schools  of  them  again  later  in 
the  day. 

"  Meanwhile  we  killed  time  as  best  we  could — chiefly 

by  sleeping.     On  the  early  morning  of  the  21st,  just  as  I 
II.— 24 


370  FARTHEST  NORTH 

lay  thinking  what  would  become  of  us  if  the  ice  should 
not  slacken  and  we  had  no  opportunity  of  adding  to  our 
larder — the  chances,  I  thought,  did  not  seem  very  prom- 
ising— I  heard  something  pawing  and  moving  outside. 
It  might,  as  usual,  be  the  packing  of  the  ice,  but  still 
I  thought  it  was  more  like  something  on  four  legs.  I 
jumped  up,  saying  to  Johansen  that  it  must  be  a  bear, 
and  then  I  suddenly  heard  it  sniffing  by  the  tent  wall. 
I  peeped  out  through  some  holes  in  one  side  of  it  and 
saw  nothing ;  then  I  went  across  to  a  big  hole  on  the 
other  side  of  the  tent,  and  there  I  saw  an  enormous  bear 
just  outside.  It  caught  sight  of  me,  too,  at  the  same 
moment  and  slunk  away,  but  then  stopped  again  and 
looked  at  the  tent.  I  snatched  my  gun  down  from  the 
tent-pole,  stuck  it  through  the  hole,  and  sent  the  bear  a 
ball  in  the  middle  of  the  chest.  It  fell  forward ;  but 
raised  itself  again  and  struggled  off,  so  I  had  to  give  it 
the  contents  of  the  other  barrel  in  the  side.  It  still 
staQ:o;ered  on,  but  fell  down  between  some  hummocks  a 
little  way  off.  An  unusually  large  he-bear,  and  for  the 
time  all  our  troubles  for  food  were  ended.  The  wind, 
however,  continued  steadily  from  the  same  quarter.  As 
there  was  not  much  shelter  where  we  were  encamped, 
and,  furthermore,  as  we  were  uncomfortably  near  the 
ridge  where  the  ice  was  continually  packing,  we  removed 
and  took  up  our  abode  farther  in  on  the  shore-ice,  where 
we  are  still  lying.  Last  night  there  was  a  bear  about 
again,  but  not  quite  so  near  the  tent. 


LAND   AT  LAST  yj\ 

"  We  went  on  an  excursion  inland*  yesterday  to  see 
what  our  prospects  might  be  if  we  should  be  forced  to 
spend  a  winter  here.  I  had  hoped  to  find  flatter  ice 
farther  in,  but  instead  it  grew  worse  and  worse  the 
nearer  we  went  to  land,  and  right  in  by  the  headland  it 
was  towering  up,  and  almost  impassable.  The  ice  was 
piled  against  the  very  wall  of  the  glacier.  We  went  up 
on  the  glacier  and  looked  at  the  sound  to  the  north  of 
the  headland.  A  little  way  in  the  ice  appeared  to  be 
flatter,  more  like  fjord-ice,  but  nowhere  could  we  see  lanes 
where  there  might  be  a  chance  of  capturing  seal.  There 
was  no  place  for  a  hut  either  about  here ;  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  we  found  on  the  south  side  of  the  headland 
quite  a  smiling  spot  where  the  ground  was  fairly  level, 
and  where  there  was  some  herbage,  and  an  abundance  of 
moss  and  stones  for  building  purposes.  But  outside  it, 
again,  the  ice  towered  up  on  the  shore  in  chaotic  con- 
fusion on  all  sides.  It  was  a  little  more  level  in  the 
direction  of  the  fjord  or  sound  w^hich  ran  far  inland  to 
the  south,  and  there  it  soon  turned  to  flat  fjord-ice ;  but 
there  were  no  lanes  there  either  where  we  could  hope  to 
capture  seal.  There  did  not  seem  much  prospect  of 
game,  but  we  comforted  ourselves  with  the  reflection  that 
there  were  tracks  of  bears  in  every  direction,  and  bears 
would,  in  case  of  necessity,  be  our  one  resource  for  both 
food  and  clothes.     In  the  cliffs  above  us  crowds  of  little 

*On  Helland's  Foreland. 


372  FARTHEST   NORTH 

auks  had  their  nests,  as  on  all  such  places  that  we  have 
passed  by.  We  also  saw  a  fox.  The  rock  formation  was 
a  coarse-grained  basalt ;  but  by  the  side  of  the  glacier  we 
discovered  a  mound  of  loose,  half-crumbled  argillaceous 
schist,  in  which,  however,  we  did  not  find  any  fossils. 
Some  blocks  which  we  thought  very  much  like  granite 
were  also  strewn  about.*  Everywhere  along  the  beach 
the  glaciers  were  covered  with  red  snow,  which  had  a 
very  beautiful  effect  in  the  sunshine. 

"  We  were  both  agreed  that  it  might  be  possible  to 
winter  here,  but  hoped  it  was  the  first  and  last  time  we 
should  set  foot  on  the  spot.  The  way  to  it,  too,  was  so 
bad  that  we  hardly  knew  how  we  should  get  the  sledges 
and  kayaks  there. 

"  To  -  day,  at  last,  the  change  we  have  longed  and 
waited  for  so  long  has  come.  Last  night  the  southwest 
wind  quieted  down ;  the  barometer,  which  I  have  been 
tapping  daily  in  vain,  has  at  last  begun  to  rise  a  little, 
and  the  wind  has  gone  round  to  the  opposite  quarter. 
The  question  now  is  whether,  if  it  keep  there,  it  will  be 
able  to  drive  the  ice  out  again." 

Here  comes  a  great  gap  in  my  diary,  and  not  till  far 
on  in  the  winter  (Friday,  December  6th)  do  I  write: 
"  I   must  at  last  try   and    patch   the  hole    in    my  diary. 


*  I  took  specimens  of  the  different  rock  formations,  lichens,  etc.,  that 
we  came  across ;  but  in  the  course  of  the  winter  the  collection  was  stolen 
by  the  foxes,  and  I  thus  brought  little  home  from  the  tracts  north  of  our 
winter  hut. 


LAND   AT  LAST  373 

There  has  been  so  much  to  see  about  that  I  have  eot  no 
writing  done ;  that  excuse,  however,  is  no  longer  availa- 
ble, as  we  sleep  nearly  the  whole  twenty-four  hours." 

After  having  written  my  journal  for  August  24th 
I  went  out  to  look  for  a  better  and  more  sheltered  place, 
as  the  wind  had  changed,  and  now  blew  straight  into  the 
tent.  I  hoped,  too,  that  this  land-wind  might  open  up 
the  ice,  and  I  therefore  first  set  off  to  see  whether  any 
sign  of  slackening  was  to  be  discovered  at  the  edge  of 
the  shore-ice ;  but  the  floes  lay  packed  together  as  solidly 
as  ever.  I  found,  however,  a  capital  place  for  pitching 
the  tent,  and  we  were  busy  moving  thither  when  we 
suddenly  discovered  that  the  ice  had  split  off  to  the  land- 
ward, and  already  there  was  a  broad  channel.  We  cer- 
tainly wanted  the  ice  to  open  up,  but  not  on  our  land- 
ward side  ;  and  now  it  was  a  question  of  getting  across 
on  to  the  shore-ice  again  at  any  price,  so  as  not  to  drift 
out  to  sea  with  the  pack.  But  the  wind  had  risen  to  a 
stiff  breeze,  and  it  seemed  more  than  doubtful  wheth- 
er we  could  manage  to  pull  up  against  it,  even  for 
so  short  a  distance  as  across  the  channel.  This  was 
rapidly  growing  broader  and  broader.  We  had,  how- 
ever, to  make  an  attempt,  and,  therefore,  set  off 
along  the  edge  towards  a  spot  farther  east,  which  we 
thought  would  give  us  a  little  more  shelter  for  launching 
our  kayaks.  On  arriving,  however,  we  found  that  it 
would  be  no  easy  matter  to  launch  them  here  either 
without  orettinCT  them  filled  with  water.     It  blew  so  that 


374  FARTHEST  NORTH 

the  spoondrift  was  driven  over  the  sea,  and  the  spray 
was  dashed  far  in  over  the  ice.  There  was  Httle  else 
to  be  done  but  to  pitch  our  tent  and  wait  for  better 
times.  We  were  now  more  than  ever  in  need  of  shel- 
ter to  keep  the  tent  from  being  torn  by  the  wind, 
but,  search  and  tramp  up  and  down  as  we  might, 
we  could  find  no  permanent  resting-place,  and  at  last 
had  to  content  ourselves  with  the  scant  shelter  of  a 
little  elevation  which  we  thouorht  would  do.  We  had 
not  lain  long  before  the  gusts  of  wind  made  such 
onslaughts  on  the  tent  that  we  found  it  advisable  to 
take  it  down,  to  avoid  having  it  torn  to  pieces.  We 
could  now  sleep  securely  in  our  bags  beneath  the  pros- 
trate tent,  and  let  the  wind  rage  above  us.  After  a  time 
I  awoke,  and  noticed  that  the  wind  had  subsided  so  much 
that  we  could  once  more  raise  our  tent,  and  I  crept  out 
to  look  at  the  weather.  I  was  less  pleasantly  surprised  on 
discovering  that  we  were  already  far  out  to  sea ;  we  must 
have  drifted  eight  or  ten  miles  from  land,  and  between  it 
and  us  lay  open  sea.  The  land  now  lay  quite  low,  far  off 
on  the  horizon.  In  the  meantime,  however,  the  weather 
had  considerably  improved,  and  we  once  more  set  out 
along  the  edge  of  the  ice  to  try  to  get  our  kayaks 
launched.  But  it  was  no  easy  matter.  It  was  still  blow- 
ing hard,  and  the  sea  ran  high.  In  addition  to  this,  there 
were  a  number  of  loose  floes  beyond,  and  these  were  in 
constant  motion,  so  that  we  had  to  be  on  the  alert  to  pre- 
vent the  kayaks  from  being  crushed  between  them.    After 


LAND   AT  LAST 


2>77 


some  futile  attempts  we  at  length  got  afloat,  but  only  to 
discover  that  the  wind  and  the  waves  were  too  strono- • 
we  should  scarcely  be  able  to  make  any  progress  against 
them.  Our  only  resource,  therefore,  was  to  sail,  if  this 
were  practicable.  We  went  alongside  an  ice  promontory, 
lashed  the  kayaks  together,  raised  the  mast,  and  again  put 
to  sea.  We  soon  had  our  single  sail  hoisted,  and  to  our 
unspeakable  satisfaction  we  now  found  that  we  got  along 
capitally.  At  last  we  should  be  able  to  bid  farewell  to 
the  ice,  where  we  had  been  compelled  to  abandon  our 
hope  of  reaching  home  that  year.  We  now  continued 
sailing  hour  after  hour,  and  made  good  progress;  but 
then  the  wind  dropped  too  much  for  our  single  sail,  and 
I  ventured  to  set  the  whole  double  sail.  Hardly  had  we 
done  so,  when  the  wind  again  sprang  up,  and  we  dashed 
foaming  through  the  water.  This  soon,  however,  be- 
came a  little  too  much ;  the  sea  washed  over  the  lee 
kayak,  the  mast  bent  dangerously,  and  the  situation  did 
not  look  very  pleasant ;  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to 
lower  the  sail  again  as  quickly  as  possible.  The  single 
sail  was  again  hoisted,  and  we  were  cured  for  some  time 
of  wishing  to  try  anything  more. 

We  sailed  steadily  and  well  the  whole  day,  and  now 
at  last  had  to  pass  the  difficult  cape ;  but  it  was  ev^ening 
before  we  left  it  behind,  and  now  the  wind  dropped  so 
much  that  the  whole  double  sail  had  to  be  hoisted  again, 
and  even  then  progress  was  slow.  We  kept  on,  how- 
ever, during  the   night,  along   the   shore,  determined   to 


378 


FARTHEST  NORTH 


make  as  much  use  of  the  wind  as  possible.  We  passed 
a  low  promontory  covered  by  a  gently  sloping  glacier;* 
around  it  lay  a  number  of  islands,  which  must,  we 
thought,  have    held    the    ice   fast.     A    little   farther   on 


"  SAILING    ALONG    THE    COAST 


we  came  under  some  high  basaltic  cliffs,  and   here  the 
wind  dropped  completely.     As  it  was  also  hazy,  and  we 

*  As  this  promontory  is  probably  the  land  Jackson  saw  farthest  north 
in  the  spring  of  1895,  it  has  no  name  upon  my  map.  It  is  otherwise  with 
the  islands  outside,  which  he  did  not  notice.  They  are  only  indicated  ap- 
proximately (as  Geelmuyden  Island  and  Alexander's  Island),  as  I  am  not 
certain  of  either  their  number  or  their  exact  situation. 


LAND   AT  LAST  379 

could  discern  land  and  islands  both  to  right  and  left  of 
us,  so  that  we  did  not  know  in  what  direction  to  steer, 
we  put  in  here,  drew  the  kayaks  up  on  shore,  pitched 
the  tent,  and  cooked  ourselves  a  good  meal  of  warm 
food,  which  we  relished  greatly,  from  the  consciousness 
of  having  done  a  good  day's  work.  Above  our  heads, 
all  up  the  face  of  the  cliff,  the  little  auks  kept  up  a  con- 
tinual hubbub,  faithfully  supported  by  the  ivory- gulls, 
kittiwakes,  burgomasters,  and  skuas.  We  slept  none  the 
worse  for  that,  however.  This  was  a  beautiful  mountain. 
It  consisted  of  the  finest  columnar  basalt  one  could  wish 
to  see,  with  its  buttresses  and  niches  up  the  face  of  the 
cliff,  and  its  countless  points  and  spires  along  every 
crest,  reminding  one  of  Milan  Cathedral.  From  top  to 
bottom  it  was  only  column  upon  column ;  at  the  base 
they  were  all  lost  in  the  talus. 

When  we  turned  out  the  following  morning,  the 
weather  had  so  far  cleared  that  we  could  better  see 
the  way  we  ought  to  take.  It  appeared  as  if  a  deep 
fjord  or  sound  ran  in  eastward  in  front  of  us ;  and 
our  way  distinctly  lay  round  a  promontory  which  we 
had  to  the  S.S.W.  on  the  other  side"  of  the  fjord.  In 
that  direction  the  water  appeared  to  be  open,  while 
within  the  fjord  lay  solid  ice,  and  out  to  sea  drift-ice 
lay  everywhere.  Through  the  misty  atmosphere  we 
could   also    distinguish   several   islands.*      Here,  too,  as 

*  These  three  islands,  whose  bearings  we  were  subsequently  enabled  to 
take,  and  which  we  could  see  from  our  winter  hut,  are  probably  the  land 


38o  FAR  THE  S  2'  NORTH 

we  usually  found  in  the  morning,  a  great  quantity  of 
ice  had  drifted  in  in  the  course  of  the  night — great,  flat, 
and  thin  floes,  which  had  settled  themselves  in  front  of 
us — and  it  looked  as  if  we  should  have  hard  work  to  get 
out  into  open  water.  Things  went  a  little  better  than 
we  expected,  however,  and  we  got  through  before  it 
closed  in  entirely.  In  front  of  us  now  lay  open  water 
right  past  the  promontory  far  ahead ;  the  weather  was 
good,  and  everything  seemed  to  promise  a  successful 
day.  As  it  began  to  blow  a  little  from  the  fjord,  and  we 
hoped  it  might  become  a  sailing-wind,  we  put  in  beside 
a  little  rocky  island,  which  looked  just  like  a  great  stone* 
sticking  up  out  of  the  sea,  and  there  rigged  up  mast  and 
sail.  But  the  sailing-wind  came  to  nothing,  and  we 
were  soon  obliged  to  unrig  and  take  to  paddling.  We 
had  not  paddled  far  when  the  wind  went  round  to  the 
opposite  quarter,  the  southwest.  It  increased  rapidly, 
and  soon  the  sea  ran  high,  the  sky  became  overcast  in 
the  south,  and  it  looked  as  if  the  weather  might  become 
stormy.  We  were  still  several  miles  from  the  land  on 
the  other  side  of  the  fjord,  and  we  might  have  many 
hours  of  hard  paddling  before  we  gained  it.  This  land, 
too,  looked   far  from    inviting,   as   it   lay  there,  entirely 


which  Jackson  saw  and  took  to  be  "  King  Oscar  Land."  In  consequence 
of  his  having  seen  them  from  only  one  point  (his  Cape  Fisher),  due  south, 
in  8i°,  he  has  placed  thexn  40'  too  far  north,  in  82^),  having  overestimated 
their  distance.  (See  his  map  in  the  Geographical  Journal,  Vol.  VII.,  No.  6, 
December,  1896,  London.) 

*  Called  Steinen  on  the  map. 


H 

X 
M 

H 
O 


5?     » 
I"     > 

a: 

> 

O 


oo 


LAND   AT  LAST  383 

covered  with  glacier  from  the  summit  right  to  the  shore ; 
only  in  one  place  did  a  little  rock  emerge.  To  leeward 
we  had  the  marmn  of  the  shore-ice,  low,  and  affordino-  no 
protection.  The  waves  broke  right  upon  it,  and  it  would 
not  be  a  good  place  to  seek  refuge  in,  should  such  a 
proceeding  become  necessary ;  it  would  be  best  to  get 
in  under  land  and  see  how  the  weather  would  turn  out. 
We  did  not  like  the  prospect  of  once  more  being  en- 
closed in  the  drift-ice ;  we  had  had  enough  of  that  by 
this  time,  so  we  made  for  some  land  which  lay  a  little 
way  behind  us,  and  looked  very  inviting.  Should  matters 
turn  out  badly,  a  good  place  for  wintering  in  might  be 
found  there. 

Scarcely  had  I  set  foot  on  land  when  I  saw  a  bear  a 
little  way  up  the  shore  and  drew  up  our  kayaks  to  go 
and  shoot  it.  In  the  meantime  it  came  shambling  along 
the  shore  towards  us,  so  we  lay  down  cjuietly  behind  the 
kayaks  and  waited.  When  close  up  to  us  it  caught 
sight  of  our  footprints  in  the  snow,  and  while  it  was 
sniffing  at  them  Johansen  sent  a  bullet  behind  its 
shoulder.  The  bear  roared  and  tried  to  run,  but  the 
bullet  had  gone  through  the  spine,  and  the  hind  part  of 
its  body  was  paralyzed  and  refused  to  perform  its  func- 
tions. In  perplexity  the  bear  sat  down,  and  bit  and  tore 
its  hind-paws  until  the  blood  flowed ;  it  was  as  if  it  were 
chastising  them  to  make  them  do  their  duty.  Then  it 
tried  again  to  move  away,  but  with  the  same  result ;  the 
hind  part  of  its  body  was  no  longer  amenable  to  disci- 


384  FARTHEST  NORTH 

pline,  and  dragged  behind,  so  that  it  could  only  shuffle 
along  on  its  fore -legs,  going  round  in  a  ring.  A  ball 
through  the  skull  put  an  end  to  its  sufferings. 

When  we  had  skinned  it  we  made  an  excursion  in- 
land to  inspect  our  new  domain,  and  were  now  not  a 
little  surprised  to  see  two  walruses  lying  quietly  on  the 
ice  close  to  the  spot  where  I  had  first  caught  sight  of 
the  bear.  This  seemed  to  me  to  show  how  little  heed 
walruses  pay  to  bears,  who  will  never  attack  them  if 
they  can  help  it.  I  had  more  decisive  proofs  of  this  sub- 
sequently. In  the  sea  beyond  we  also  saw  a  walrus, 
which  kept  putting  up  its  head  and  breathing  so  hard 
that  it  could  be  heard  a  long  way  off.  A  little  later  1 
saw  him  approach  the  edge  of  the  ice  and  disappear, 
only  to  appear  again  in  the  tidal  channel  close  to  the 
shore,  a  good  way  from  the  edge  of  the  ice.  He  struck 
his  great  tusks  into  the  edge  of  the  ice,  while  he  lay 
breathing  hard,  just  like  an  exhausted  swimmer.  Then 
he  raised  himself  high  up  on  his  tusks,  and  looked  across 
the  ice  towards  the  others  lying  there,  and  then  dived 
down  again.  He  soon  reappeared,  with  a  great  deal  of 
noise,  farther  in,  and  the  same  performance  was  gone 
through  again.  A  walrus's  head  is  not  a  beautiful  ob- 
ject as  it  appears  above  the  ice.  With  its  huge  tusks, 
its  coarse  whisker  bristles,  and  clumsy  shape,  there  is 
something:  wild  and  Qfoblin-like  about  it  which,  I  can 
easily  understand,  might  inspire  fear  in  more  supersti- 
tious  times,  and  give  rise  to  the  idea  of  fabulous  mon- 


LAND   AT  LAST  385 

sters,  with  which  in  ancient  days  these  seas  were  thought 
to  swarm.  At  last  the  wah'us  came  up  in  the  liole  be- 
side which  the  others  were  l3'ing,  and  raised  himself  a 
little  way  up  on  to  the  edge  of  the  ice  by  his  tusks;  but 
upon  this  the  bigger  of  the  two,  a  huge  old  bull,  sud- 
denly awoke  to  life.  He  grunted  menacingly,  and  moved 
about  restlessly.  The  new-comer  bowed  his  head  re- 
spectfully down  to  the  ice,  but  soon  pulled  himself  cau- 
tiously up  on  to  the  floe,  so  as  to  get  a  hold  with  his 
fore-paddle,  and  then  drew  himself  a  little  way  in.  Now 
the  old  bull  was  thoroughly  roused.  He  turned  round, 
bellowed,  and  tioundered  up  to  the  new-comer  in  order 
to  die  his  enormous  tusks  into  his  back.  The  latter, 
who  appeared  to  be  the  old  bull's  equal  both  as  regards 
tusks  and  size,  bowed  humbly,  and  laid  his  head  down 
upon  the  ice  just  like  a  slave  before  his  sultan.  The 
old  bull  returned  to  his  companion,  and  lay  quietly  down 
as  before,  but  no  sooner  did  the  new-comer  stir,  after 
having  lain  for  some  time  in  this  servile  posture,  than 
the  old  bull  orunted  and  thrust  at  him,  and  he  once 
more  respectfully  drew  back.  This  w^as  repeated  sev- 
eral times.  At  length,  after  much  manoeuvring  back- 
ward and  forward,  the  new-comer  succeeded  in  drawing 
himself  on  to  the  floe,  and  finally  up  beside  the  others. 
I  thought  the  tender  passion  must  have  something  to 
do  with  these  proceedings ;  but  I  discovered  afterwards 
that  all  three  were  males.  xAnd  it  is  in  this  friendly 
manner  that  walruses   receive  their  guests.     It   appears 

IT.— 2^ 


386  FARTHEST  NORTH 

to  be  a  specially  chosen  member  of  the  flock  that  has 
these  hospitable  duties  to  perform.  I  am  inclined 
to  think  it  is  the  leader,  who  is  asserting  his  dignity, 
and  wishes  to  impress  upon  every  new-comer  that  he 
is  to  be  obeyed.  These  animals  must  be  exceedingly 
sociable,  when,  in  spite  of  such  treatment,  they  thus 
constantly  seek  one  another's  society,  and  always  lie 
close  too-ether.  When  we  returned  a  little  later  to 
look  at  them  another  had  arrived,  and  by  the  follow- 
ing morning  six  lay  there  side  by  side.  It  is  not 
easy  to  believe  that  these  lumps  lying  on  the  ice  are 
livinsf  animals.  With  head  drawn  in  and  hind-les^s  flat 
beneath  the  body,  they  will  lie  motionless  hour  after 
hour,  looking  like  enormous  sausages.  It  is  easy  to  see 
that  these  fellows  lie  there  in  security,  and  fearful  of 
nothing  in  the  world. 

After  having  seen  as  much  as  we  wanted  of  the  wal- 
ruses at  close  quarters,  we  went  back,  prepared  a  good 
meal  from  the  newly  slaughtered  bear,  and  lay  down  to 
sleep.  On  the  shore  below  the  tent,  the  ivory-gulls  were 
making  a  fearful  hubbub.  They  had  gathered  in  scores 
from  all  quarters,  and  could  not  agree  as  to  the  fair 
division  of  the  bear's  entrails;  they  fought  incessantly, 
filling  the  air  with  their  angry  cries.  It  is  one  of -nature's 
unaccountable  freaks  to  have  made  this  bird  so  pretty, 
while  giving  it  such  an  ugly  voice.  At  a  little  distance 
the  burgomasters  sat  solemnly  looking  on  and  uttering 
their  somewhat  more  melodious  notes.     Out  in  the  sea 


LAND   A2'  LAST  389 

the  walruses  were  blowing  and  bellowing  incessanth',  but 
everything  passed  unheeded  by  the  two  wear\'  warriors 
in  the  tent;  they  slept  soundly,  with  the  bare  ground 
for  their  couch.  In  the  middle  of  the  night  we  were 
awakened,  however,  by  a  peculiar  sound ;  it  was  just 
like  some  one  whimpering  and  crying,  and  making- 
great  ado.  I  started  up,  and  looked  out  of  the  peep- 
hole. Two  bears  were  standing  down  beside  our  bear's 
flesh,  a  she-bear  and  her  young  one,  and  both  sniffing 
at  the  bloody  marks  in  the  snow,  while  the  she  -  bear 
wailed  as  if  mourning  for  a  dear  departed  one.  I  lost 
no  time  in  seizing  my  gun,  and  was  just  putting  it 
cautiouslv  out,  when  the  she -bear  cauo'ht  sig-ht  of  me 
at  the  peep-hole,  and  off  they  both  set,  the  mother  in 
front,  and  the  vouno-  one  trottino-  after  as  fast  as  it 
could.  I  just  let  them  run — we  had  really  no  use  for 
them  —  and  then  we  turned  over  and  went  to  sleep 
again. 

Nothing  came  of  the  storm  w^e  had  feared.  The 
wind  blew  hard  enough,  however,  to  rend  and  tear  our 
now  well-worn  tent,  and  there  was  no  shelter  where 
we  lay.  We  hoped  to  go  on  on  the  following  day,  but 
found,  to  our  disappointment,  that  the  way  was  blocked  ; 
the  wind  had  again  driven  the  ice  in.  We  must  remain 
for  the  present  where  we  were;  but  in  that  case  we 
would  make  ourselves  as  comfortable  as  possible.  The 
first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  seek  for  a  warm,  well- 
sheltered    place    for   the    tent,  but    this    was   not    to    be 


390 


FARTHES2'  NORTH 


found.  There  was  nothino-  for  it  but  to  sfet  somethins 
built  up  of  stone.  We  quarried  stone  in  the  debris  at 
the  bottom  of  the  cHff,  and  got  together  as  much  as 
we  could.  The  only  quarrying  implement  we  had 
was  a  runner  that  had  been  cut  off  a  hand-sledge ;  but 
our  two  hands  were  what  we  had  to  use  most.  We 
worked  away  during  the  night.  What  we  had  at  first  only 
intended  to  be  a  shelter  from  the  wind  grew,  little  by 
little,  into  four  walls  ;  and  we  now  kept  at  it  until  we  had 
finished   a  small   hut.       It  was   nothing  very  wonderful, 


WE    BUILD    OUR    FIRST   HUT 


Heaven  knows,  not  long  enough  for  a  man  of  my  height 
to  lie  straight  inside — I  had  to  stick  my  feet  out  at  the 
door — and  just  broad  enough  to  admit  of  our  lying  side 
by  side  and  leave  room  for  the  cooking  apparatus.     It 


LAND   AT  LAST  391 

was  worse,  however,  with  regard  to  the  height.  There 
was  room  to  lie  down,  but  to  sit  up  decently  straight  was 
an  impossibility  for  me.  The  roof  was  made  of  our  thin 
and  fragile  silk  tent,  spread  over  snow-shoes  and  bamboo 
rods.  We  closed  the  doorway  with  our  coats,  and  the 
walls  were  so  loosely  put  together  that  we  could  see  day- 
light between  the  stones  on  all  sides.  We  afterwards 
called  it  the  den,  and  a  dreadful  den  it  was,  too  ;  but  we 
were  none  the  less  proud  of  our  handiwork.  It  would 
not  blow  down,  at  any  rate,  even  though  the  wind  did 
blow  right  through  it.  When  we  had  got  our  bearskin 
in  as  a  couch  and  lay  warm  and  comfortable  in  our  bag, 
while  a  good  potful  of  meat  bubbled  over  the  train-oil 
lamp,  we  thought  existence  a  pleasure  ;  and  the  fact  of 
there  being  so  much  smoke  that  our  eyes  became  red  and 
the  tears  streamed  down  our  cheeks  could  not  destroy  our 
feeling  of  content. 

As  progress  southward  was  blocked  also  on  the  fol- 
lowing day  (August  28th),  and  as  autumn  was  now  draw- 
ing on,  I  at  last  resolved  on  remaining  here  for  the 
winter.  I  thought  that  we  still  had  more  than  138  miles 
to  travel  in  order  to  reach  Eira  Harbor  or  Leigh  Smith's 
wintering-place.*  It  might  take  us  a  long  time  to  get 
there,  and  then  we  were  not  sure  of  finding  any  hut ;  and 

*  I  now  thought  I  could  safely  conclude  that  we  were  on  the  west  coast 
of  Franz  Josef  Land,  and  were  at  this  moment  a  little  north  of  Leigh 
Smith's  most  northwesterly  point.  Cape  Lofley,  which  should  lie  a  little 
south  of  81°  north  latitude,  while  our  observation  that  day  made  us  about 
81°  19'  north  latitude. 


392  FARTHEST  NORTH 

when  we  did  get  there,  it  would  be  more  than  doubtful 
if,  before  the  winter  set  in,  there  would  be  time  to  build 
a  house  and  also  gather  stores  for  the  winter.  It  was 
undoubtedly  the  safest  plan  to  begin  at  once  to  prepare 
for  wintering  while  there  was  still  plenty  of  game  to 
be  had ;  and  this  was  a  good  spot  to  winter  in.  The 
first  thino:  I  should  like  to  have  done  was  to  have  shot 
the  walruses  that  had  been  lying  on  the  ice  during  the 
first  day  or  two ;  but  now^  of  course,  they  were  gone. 
The  sea,  however,  was  swarming  with  them;  they  bel- 
lowed and  blew  night  and  day,  and,  in  order  to  be  ready 
for  an  encounter  with  them,  we  emptied  our  kayaks  to 
make  them  more  easy  of  manipulation  in  this  some- 
what dangerous  chase.  While  thus  engaged,  Johansen 
caueht  sio[ht  of  two  bears — a  she-bear  and  her  cub — 
cominor  alono-  the  edQ-e  of  the  ice  from  the  south.  We 
lost  no  time  in  getting  our  guns  and  setting  off  towards 
them.  By  the  time  they  reached  the  shore  they  were 
within  range,  and  Johansen  sent  a  bullet  through  the 
mother's  chest.  She  roared,  bit  at  the  w^ound,  staggered 
a  few  steps,  and  fell.  The  young  one  could  not  make 
out  what  was  the  matter  with  its  mother,  and  ran  round, 
snif^ng  at  her.  When  we  approached,  it  went  off  a 
little  way  up  the  slope,  but  soon  came  back  again  and 
took  up  a  position  over  its  mother,  as  if  to  defend  her 
against  us.  A  charge  of  small  shot  put  an  end  to  its 
life. 

This  was  a  s^ood  beo-innino-  to  our  winter  store.     As 


LAND   AT  LAST  393 

1  was  returning  to  the  hut  to  fetch  the  seal  -  knives,  I 
heard  cries  in  the  air  above  me.  There  were  actually  two 
geese  flying  south  I  With  what  longing  I  looked  after 
them  as  they  disappeared,  only  wishing  that  I  could  ha\'e 
followed  them  to  the  land  towards  which  they  were  now 
wending  their  flight ! 

Next  to  food  and  fuel  the  most  important  thing  was 
to  set  a  hut  built.  To  build  the  walls  of  this  was  not 
difflcult;  there  was  plenty  of  stone  and  moss.  The  roof 
presented  greater  difflculty,  and  we  had  as  yet  no  idea 
what  to  make  of  it.  Fortunately,  I  found  a  sound  drift- 
wood pine-log  thrown  up  on  to  the  shore  not  far  from 
our  den;  this  would  make  a  capital  ridge-piece  for  the 
roof  of  our  future  house.  And  if  there  was  one,  there 
might  be  others.  One  of  our  first  acts,  therefore,  was 
to  make  an  excursion  up  along  the  shore  and  search  ; 
but  all  we  found  was  one  short,  rotten  piece  of  wood, 
Vv'hich  was  good  for  nothing,  and  some  chips  of  another 
piece.  I  then  began  to  think  of  using  walrus-hides  for 
the  roof  instead. 

The  following  day  (August  29th)  we  prepared  to  try 
our  luck  at  walrus-hunting.  We  had  no  great  desire  to 
attack  the  animals  in  single  kayaks ;  we  had  had  enough 
of  that,  I  thought,  and  the  prospect  of  being  upset  or  of 
havinof  a  tusk  driven  throus^h  the  bottom  of  the  kayak 
or  into  one's  thigh  was  not  altogether  alluring.  The 
kayaks  were  therefore  lashed  together,  and,  seated 
upon  the   ring,  we   put  out   towards   the   big  bull   which 


394  FARTHEST  NORTH 

lay  and  dived  just  outside.  We  were  well  equipped 
with  guns  and  harpoons,  and  thought  that  it  was  all 
quite  simple.  Nor  was  it  difificult  to  get  within  range, 
and  we  emptied  our  barrels  into  the  animal's  head.  It 
lay  stunned  for  a  moment,  and  we  rowed  towards  it,  but 
suddenly  it  began  to  splash  and  whirl  round  in  the  water, 
completely  beside  itself.  I  shouted  out  that  we  must 
back,  but  it  was  too  late :  the  walrus  got  under  the 
kayaks,  and  we  received  several  blows  underneath,  in 
the  violence  of  its  contortions,  before  it  finally  dived.  It 
soon  came  up  again,  and  now  the  sound  of  its  breathing 
resounded  on  all  sides,  while  blood  streamed  from  its 
mouth  and  nostrils,  and  dyed  the  surrounding  water. 
We  lost  no  time  in  rowing  up  to  it  and  pouring  a  fresh 
volley  into  its  head.  Again  it  dived,  and  we  cautiously 
drew  back,  to  avoid  receiving  an  attack  from  below.  It 
soon  appeared  again,  and  we  once  more  rowed  up  to  it. 
These  manoeuvres  were  repeated,  and  each  time  it  came 
to  the  surface  it  received  at  least  one  bullet  in  the  head, 
and  grew^  more  and  more  exhausted  ;  but,  as  it  always 
faced  us,  it  was  difficult  to  give  it  a  mortal  wound  behind 
the  ear.  The  blood,  however,  now  flowed  in  streams. 
During  one  of  these  manoeuvres  I  was  in  the  act  of 
placing  my  gun  hurriedly  in  its  case  on  the  deck,  in 
order  to  row  nearer,  forgetting  that  it  was  cocked,  when 
all  at  once  it  went  off.  I  was  rather  alarmed,  thinking 
the  ball  had  gone  through  the  bottom  of  the  kayak,  and 
I  began  feeling  my  legs.      They  were  uninjured,  however, 


LAND   AT  LAST  395 

and  as  I  did  not  hear  the  water  rusliing  in  either  I  was 
reassured.  The  ball  had  passed  through  the  deck  and 
out  through  the  side  a  little  above  the  water-line.  We 
had  now  had  enough  of  this  sport,  however ;  the  walrus 
only  lay  gasping  for  breath,  and  just  as  we  rowed 
towards  it  it  turned  its  head  a  little,  and  received 
two  bullets  just  behind  the  ear.  It  lay  still,  and  we 
rowed  up  to  throw  our  harpoon ;  but  before  we  got 
near  enough  it  sank  and  disappeared.  It  was  a  mel- 
ancholy ending  to  the  affair.  In  all,  nine  cartridges 
had  been  expended  to  no  purpose,  and  w^e  silently 
rowed  to  shore,  not  a  little  crestfallen.  We  tried  no 
more  walrus  -  hunting  from  kayaks  that  day;  but  we 
now  saw  that  a  walrus  had  come  up  on  to  the  shore- 
ice  a  little  way  off.  Perhaps  we  were  to  receive  com- 
pensation there  for  the  one  we  had  just  lost.  It  was 
not  long  before  another  came  up  beside  the  first.  Af- 
ter havino^  taken  an  observation  and  oriven  them  time 
to  compose  themselves,  we  set  off.  Having  bellowed 
and  made  a  horrible  noise  out  there  for  some  time,  they 
now  lay  asleep  and  unsuspecting,  and  we  stole  cautiously 
up  to  them,  I  in  front  and  Johansen  close  at  my  heels. 
I  first  went  up  to  the  head  of  the  nearer  one,  which 
was  lying  with  its  back  to  us.  As  it  had  drawn  its 
head  well  down,  and  it  was  difficult  to  get  a  shot  at 
a  vulnerable  point,  I  passed  behind  it,  and  up  to  the 
head  of  the  other  one.  The  animals  still  lay  motionless, 
asleep  in  the  sun.       The  second  was  in  a  better  position 


396  FARTHEST  NORTH 

for  a  shot,  and,  when  I  saw  Johansen  standing  ready 
at  the  head  of  the  first,  I  fired  at  the  back  of  the  neck. 
The  animal  turned  over  a  little,  and  lay  there  dead. 
At  the  report  the  first  started  up,  but  at  the  same  moment 
received  Johansen's  bullet.  Half  stunned,  it  turned  its 
gigantic  body  round  towards  us;  in  a  moment  I  had 
discharged  the  ball  from  my  smooth-bore  at  it,  but,  like 
Johansen,  I  hit  too  far  forward  in  the  head.  The  blood 
streamed  from  its  nostrils  and  mouth,  and  it  breathed 
and  coughed  till  the  air  vibrated.  Supporting  itself 
upon  its  enormous  tusks,  it  now  lay  still,  coughing  blood 
like  a  consumptive  person,  and  quite  indifferent  to  us. 
In  spite  of  its  huge  body  and  shapeless  appearance,  which 
called  up  to  the  imagination  bogy,  giant,  and  kraken, 
and  other  evil  things,  there  was  something  so  gently 
supplicating  and  helpless  in  its  round  eyes  as  it  lay  there 
that  its  goblin  exterior  and  one's  own  need  were  forgot- 
ten in  pity  for  it.  It  almost  seemed  like  murder.  I  put  an 
end  to  its  sufferings  by  a  bullet  behind  the  ear,  but  those 
eyes  haunt  me  yet ;  it  seemed  as  if  in  them  lay  the  prayer 
for  existence  of  the  whole  helpless  walrus  race.  But  it  is 
lost ;  it  has  man  as  its  pursuer.  It  cannot,  however,  be 
denied  that  we  rejoiced  at  the  thought  of  all  the  meat  and 
blubber  we  had  now  brought  down  in  one  encounter;  it 
made  up  for  the  cartridges  expended  upon  the  one  that 
had  sunk.  But  we  had  not  got  them  on  land  yet,  and  it 
would  be  a  long  piece  of  work  to  get  them  skinned  and 
cut  up   and   brought    home.      The  first  thing  we  did  was 


%.•»■* 


LAND   AT  LAST  399 

to  go  after  sledges  and  knives.  As  there  was  a  pos- 
sibility, too,  of  the  ice  breaking  off  and  being  set  adrift, 
I  also  thought  it  wise  to  take  the  kayaks  on  the  sledges 
at  the  same  time,  for  it  had  begun  to  blow  a  little  from 
the  fjord.  But  for  this  fortunate  precaution  it  is  not 
easy  to  say  what  would  have  become  of  us.  While  we 
were  engaged  in  skinning,  the  wind  rose  rapidly,  and 
soon  became  a  storm.  To  landward  of  us  was  the 
narrow  channel  or  lane  beside  which  the  walruses  had 
been  lying.  I  feared  that  the  ice  might  open  here,  and 
we  drift  away.  While  we  w^orked  I  therefore  kept  an 
eye  on  it  to  see  if  it  grew  broader.  It  remained  un- 
changed, and  we  went  on  skinning  as  fast  as  we  could. 
When  the  first  walrus  was  half  skinned,  I  happened 
to  look  landward  across  the  ice,  and  discovered  that  it 
had  broken  off  a  good  way  from  us,  and  that  the  part  on 
which  we  stood  had  already  been  drifting  for  some 
time ;  there  was  black  w'ater  between  us  and  the  shore- 
ice,  and  the  wind  was  blowing  so  that  the  spray  flew 
from  the  foaming  waves.  There  was  no  time  to  be  lost ; 
it  was  more  than  doubtful  w^iether  we  should  be  able 
to  paddle  any  great  distance  against  that  wind  and 
sea,  but  as  yet  the  ice  did  not  appear  to  have  drifted  a 
greater  distance  from  the  land  than  we  could  cross,  if  we 
made  haste.  We  could  not  bring  ourselves  to  give  up 
entirely  the  huge  animals  we  had  brought  down,  and  we 
hurriedly  cut  off  as  much  flesh  as  we  could  get  at  and 
fiung    it   into    the    kayaks.      We    then    cut    off    about   a 


400  FARTHEST  NOR2H 

quarter  of  the  skin,  with  the  blubber  on  it,  and  threw  it 
on  the  top,  and  then  set  off  for  the  shore.  We  had 
scarcely  abandoned  our  booty  before  the  gulls  bore  down 
in  scores  upon  the  half-skinned  carcass.  Happy  creat- 
ures!  Wind  and  waves  and  drifting  were  nothing  to 
them;  they  screamed  and  made  a  hubbub  and  thought 
what  a  feast  they  were  having.  As  long  as  we  could  see 
the  carcasses  as  they  drifted  out  to  sea,  we  saw  the  birds 
continually  gathering  in  larger  and  larger  flocks  about 
them  like  clouds  of  snow.  In  the  meantime  we  were 
doing  our  utmost  to  gain  the  ice,  but  it  had  developed 
cracks  and  channels  in  every  direction.  We  managed  to 
get  some  distance  in  the  kayaks ;  but  while  I  was  cross- 
insf  a  wide  channel  on  some  loose  floes  I  aliHited  on 
such  poor  ice  that  it  sank  under  my  weight,  and  I  had  to 
jump  back  quickly  to  escape  a  bath.  We  tried  in  sev- 
eral places,  but  everywhere  it  sank  beneath  us  and  our 
sledges,  and  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  take  to  the 
water,  keeping  along  the  lee-side  of  the  ice.  But  we  had 
not  rowed  far  before  we  perceived  that  it  was  of  no  use 
to  have  our  kayaks  lashed  together  in  such  a  wind ;  we 
had  to  row  singly,  and  sacrifice  the  walrus  hide  and 
blubber,  which  it  then  became  impossible  to  take  with  us. 
At  present  it  was  lying  across  the  stern  of  both  kayaks. 
While  we  were  busy  effecting  these  changes  we  were 
surrounded,  before  we  were  aware  of  it,  by  ice,  and  had 
to  pull  the  kayaks  up  hastily  to  save  them  from  being 
crushed.     We  now  tried  to  get  out  at  several  places,  but 


LAND   AT  LAST  401 

the  ice  was  in  constant  motion  ;  it  ground  round  as  in 
a  whirlpool.  If  a  channel  opened,  we  had  no  sooner 
launched  our  kayaks  than  it  once  more  closed  violently, 
and  we  had  to  snatch  them  up  in  the  greatest  haste. 
Several  times  they  were  within  a  hairs-breadth  of  being 
smashed.  Meanwhile  the  storm  was  steadily  increasing, 
the  spra)'  dashed  over  us,  and  we  drifted  farther  and 
farther  out  to  sea.     The  situation  was  not  pleasant. 

At  length,  however,  we  got  clear,  and  now  discovered, 
to  our  joy,  that  by  exerting  our  utmost  strength  we 
could  just  force  the  kayaks  on  against  the  wind.  It 
was  a  hard  pull,  and  our  arms  ached ;  but  still  we  crept 
slowly  on  towards  land.  The  sea  was  choppy  and 
bad,  but  our  kayaks  were  good  sea -boats;  and  even 
mine,  with  the  bullet-hole  in  it,  did  so  well  that  I  kept 
to  some  extent  dry.  The  wind  came  now  and  then  in 
such  gusts  that  we  felt  as  if  it  might  lift  us  out  of  the 
water  and  upset  us ;  but  gradually,  as  we  drew  nearer 
in  under  the  high  cliffs,  it  became  quieter,  and  at  last, 
after  a  long  time,  we  reached  the  shore,  and  could 
take  breath.  We  then  rowed  in  smoother  w^ater  alono- 
the  shore  up  to  our  camping-place.  It  was  with  genu- 
ine satisfaction  that  we  clambered  on  shore  that  night, 
and  how  unspeakably  comfortable  it  was  to  be  lying 
again  snugly  within  four  walls  in  our  little  den,  wet 
though  we  were !  A  good  potful  of  meat  was  prepared, 
and    our    appetite   was    ravenous.      It   was,  indeed,  with 

sorrow  that  we  thought  of  the  lost  walruses  now  drifting 
II.— 26 


402  FARTHEST  NORTH 

out  there  in  the  storm  ;  but  we  were  glad  that  we  were 
not  still  in  their  company. 

I  had  not  slept  long,  when  I  was  awakened  by  Johan- 
sen,  who  said  there  was  a  bear  outside.  Even  when  only 
half  awake,  I  heard  a  strange,  low  grunting  just  outside 
the  doorway.  I  started  up,  seized  my  gun,  and  crept  out. 
A  she-bear  with  two  large  cubs  was  going  up  the  shore ; 
they  had  just  passed  close  by  our  door.  I  aimed  at  the 
she-bear,  but,  in  my  haste,  I  missed  her.  She  started 
and  looked  round ;  and  as  she  turned  her  broadside  to 
me  I  sent  a  bullet  through  her  chest.  She  gave  a  fear- 
ful roar,  and  all  three  started  off  down  the  shore.  There 
the  mother  dropped  in  a  pool  on  the  ice,  but  the  young 
ones  ran  on  and  rushed  into  the  sea,  dashing  up  the 
foam  as  they  went,  and  began  to  swim  out.  I  hastened 
down  to  the  mother,  who  was  striving  and  striving  to  get 
out  of  the  pool,  but  in  vain.  To  save  ourselves  the  labor 
of  dragging  the  heavy  animal  out,  I  waited  until  she  had 
drawn  herself  up  on  to  the  edge,  and  then  put  an  end  to 
her  existence.  Meanwhile  the  young  ones  had  reached 
a  piece  of  ice.  It  was  very  close  quarters  for  two,  and 
only  just  large  enough  to  hold  them;  but  there  they  sat, 
balancing  and  dipping  up  and  down  in  the  waves.  Every 
now  and  then  one  of  them  fell  off,  but  patiently  clam- 
bered up  again.  They  cried  plaintively  and  incessantly, 
and  kept  looking  towards  land,  unable  to  understand 
why  their  mother  was  so  long  in  coming.  The  wind 
was  still  high,  and  they  drifted  quickly  out  to  sea  before 


LAND    AT  LAS 7'  403 

it  with  the  current.  We  thought  they  would  at  last 
swim  to  land  to  look  for  their  mother,  and  that  we  must 
wait;  we  therefore  hid  ourselves  among  the  stones,  so 
that  they  should  not  be  afraid  of  coming  on  our  account. 
We  could  still  hear  them  complaining,  but  the  sound 
became  more  and  more  distant,  and  they  grew  smaller 
and  smaller  out  there  on  the  blue  waves,  till  at  last  it 
was  all  we  could  do  to  distinguish  them  as  two  white 
dots  far  out  upon  the  dark  plain.  We  had  long  been 
tired  of  this,  and  went  to  our  kayaks.  But  here  a  sad 
sight  met  our  eyes.  All  the  walrus  flesh  which  we  had 
brouo-ht  home  with  so  much  trouble  lav  scattered  about 
on  the  shore,  torn  and  mangled ;  and  every  bit  of  fat  or 
blubber  to  be  found  on  it  had  been  devoured.  The 
bears  must  have  been  rummaging  finely  here  while  we 
slept.  One  of  the  kayaks  in  which  the  meat  had  been 
lying  was  thrown  half  into  the  water,  the  other  high  up 
among  the  stones.  The  bears  had  been  right  into  them 
and  dragged  out  the  meat ;  but,  fortunately,  they  were 
none  the  worse,  so  it  was  easy  to  forgive  the  bears,  and 
we  benefited  by  the  exchange  of  bear's  flesh  for  walrus 
flesh. 

We  then  launched  the  kayaks,  and  put  off  to  chase 
the  young  ones  to  land.  As  soon  as  ever  they  saw  us  on 
the  water  they  became  uneasy,  and  while  we  were  still 
some  way  off  one  of  them  took  to  the  water.  The  other 
hesitated  for  a  while,  as  if  afraid  of  the  water,  while  the 
first  waited  impatiently ;   but  at  last  they  both  went   in. 


404  FARTHEST  NORTH 

We  made  a  wide  circuit  round  them,  and  began  to  drive 
them  towards  the  land,  one  of  us  on  each  side  of  them. 
It  was  easy  to  make  them  go  in  whatever  chrection  we 
wanted,  and  Johansen  could  not  say  enough  in  praise  of 
this  simple  method  of  getting  bears  from  one  place  to 
another.  We  did  not  need  to  row  hard  to  keep  up  with 
them  ;  we  went  slowly  and  easily,  but  surely,  towards 
land.  We  saw  several  walruses  in  the  vicinity,  but  fort- 
unately escaped  being  attacked  by  any  of  them.  From 
the  very  first  it  was  evident  how  much  better  the  bear 
that  first  went  into  the  water  swam,  although  it  was  the 
smallest  and  thinnest.  It  waited,  however,  patiently  for 
the  other,  and  kept  it  company ;  but  at  last  the  pace  of 
the  latter  became  too  slow  for  its  companion,  who  struck 
out  for  the  shore,  the  distance  between  the  two  growing 
greater  and  greater.  They  had  kept  incessantly  turning 
their  heads  to  look  anxiously  at  us,  and  now  the  one  that 
was  left  behind  looked  round  even  more  helplessly  than 
before.  While  I  set  off  after  the  first  bear,  Johansen 
watched  the  second,  and  we  drove  them  ashore  by  our 
den,  and  shot  them  there. 

We  had  thus  taken  three  bears  on  that  clay,  and  this 
was  a  good  set  -  off  against  our  walruses,  which  had 
drifted  out  to  sea,  and,  what  was  no  less  fortunate,  we 
found  the  sunken  walrus  from  the  day  before  floating 
just  at  the  edge  of  the  shore.  We  lost  no  time  in  towing 
it  into  a  place  of  safety  in  a  creek  and  making  it  fast.  It 
made  a  difference  to  our  winter  store. 


LAND   AT  LAST  405 

It  was  late  before  we  turned  in  that  night  after  hav- 
ing skinned  the  bears,  laid  them  in  a  heap,  and  covered 
them  with  the  skins  to  prevent  the  gulls  from  getting  at 
them.  We  slept  well,  for  we  had  to  make  up  for  two 
nights. 

It  was  not  until  September  2d  that  we  could  set  to 
work  on  the  skinning  of  our  walrus,  which  still  lay  in  the 
water.  Close  to  our  den  there  was  an  opening  in  the 
strand-ice,*  connecting  the  inner  channel  between  the 
strand-ice  and  the  land  with  the  outer  sea.  It  was  in 
this  opening  that  we  had  made  it  fast,  and  we  hoped  to 
be  able  to  draw  it  on  land  here;  the  glacier-ice  went  with 
a  gentle  incline  right  out  into  the  water,  so  that  it  seemed 
to  promise  well.  We  rounded  off  the  edge  of  the  ice, 
made  a  tackle  by  drawing  the  rope  through  a  loop  we 
cut  in  the  skin  of  the  head,  used  our  broken-off  runner  of 
a  sledge  as  a  handspike  at  the  end  of  the  rope,  and  cut 
notches  in  the  ice  up  the  beach  as  a  fulcrum  for  the  hand- 
spike. But  work  and  toil  as  we  might,  it  was  all  we  could 
do  to  get  the  huge  head  up  over  the  edge  of  the  ice.  In 
the  midst  of  this  Johansen  cried,  "  I  say,  look  there!"  I 
turned.  A  large  walrus  was  swimming  straight  up  the 
channel  towards  us.  It  did  not  seem  to  be  in  any  hurry, 
but  only  opened  wide  its  round  eyes,  and  gazed  in  aston- 


*  Ice  which  is  frozen  fast  to  the  bottom,  and  is  therefore  often  left 
lying  like  an  icy  base  along  the  shore  even  after  the  sea  is  free  from  ice. 
On  account  of  the  warm  water  which  comes  from  the  land,  an  open 
channel  is  often  formed  between  this  ice-base  and  the  shore. 


4o6  FARTHEST  NORTH 

ishment  at  us  and  at  what  we  were  doing.  I  suppose 
that,  seeing  a  comrade,  it  had  come  in  to  see  what  we 
were  doing  with  him.  Quietly,  slowly,  and  with  dignity 
it  came  right  up  to  the  edge  where  we  stood.  Fortu- 
nately we  had  our  guns  with  us,  and  when  I  approached 
with  mine  it  only  rose  up  in  the  water  and  gazed  long 
and  searchingly  at  me.  I  waited  patiently  until  it  turned 
a  little,  and  then  sent  a  bullet  into  the  back  of  its  head. 
It  was  stunned  for  a  time,  but  soon  began  to  move,  so 
that  more  shots  were  required.  While  Johansen  ran  for 
cartridges  and  a  harpoon  I  had  to  fight  with  it  as  I  best 
could,  and  try  to  prevent  it,  with  a  stick,  from  splashing 
out  of  the  channel  again.  At  last  Johansen  returned, 
and  I  did  for  this  walrus.  We  were  delighted  over  our 
good  fortune;  but  what  the  walrus  wanted  in  that  narrow 
channel  we  have  always  wondered.  These  animals  must 
be  uncommonly  curious.  While  we  were  skinning  the 
bears  two  days  before,  a  walrus  with  its  young  one  came 
close  in  to  the  edge  of  the  ice  and  gazed  at  us ;  it  dived 
several  times,  but  always  returned,  and  at  last  drew  the 
whole  of  the  forepart  of  its  body  up  on  to  the  ice  in 
order  to  see  better.  This  it  did  several  times,  and  my 
approaching  to  within  a  few  yards  of  it  did  not  drive  it 
away ;  it  was  only  when  I  went  up  close  to  it  with  my 
gun  that  it  suddenly  came  to  its  senses  and  threw  itself 
backward  into  the  water  again,  and  we  could  see  it  far 
below  moving  off  with  its  young  one  by  its  side. 

We  now  had  two  great  walruses  with  enormous  tusks 


LAND   AT  LAST  407 

floatins:  in  our  channel.  We  tried  once  more  to  dratr 
one  of  them  up,  but  the  attempt  was  as  unsuccessful  as 
before.  At  last  we  saw  that  our  only  course  was  to  skin 
them  in  the  water ;  but  this  was  neither  an  easy  nor  an 
agreeable  task.  When  at  last,  late  in  the  evenino-,  we  had 
got  one  side  of  one  animal  skinned,  it  was  low-water;  the 
walrus  lay  on  the  bottom,  and  there  was  no  possibility  of 
turning  it  over,  no  matter  how  we  toiled  and  pulled.  We 
had  to  wait  for  his^h  tide  the  foUowins;  dav,  in  order  to 
set  at  the  other  side. 

While  we  were  busy  with  the  walruses  that  day  we 
suddenly  saw  the  whole  fjord  white  with  white  whales 
gambolling  all  round  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see.  There 
was  an  incredible  number  of  them.  In  the  course  of  an 
hour  they  had  entirely  disappeared.  Where  they  came 
from  and  whither  they  went  I  was  not  able  to  discover. 

During  the  succeeding  days  we  toiled  at  our  task  of 
skinning  and  cutting  up  the  walruses,  and  bringing  all  up 
into  a  safe  place  on  the  beach.  It  was  disgusting  work, 
lying  on  the  animals  out  in  the  water  and  having  to  cut 
down  as  far  as  one  could  reach  below  the  surface  of  the 
water.  We  could  put  up  with  getting  wet,  for  one  gets 
dry  in  time;  but  what  was  worse  was  that  we  could  not 
avoid  being  saturated  with  blubber  and  oil  and  blood 
from  head  to  foot;  and  our  poor  clothes,  that  we  should 
have  to  live  in  for  another  year  before  we  could  change, 
fared  badly  during  those  days.  They  so  absorbed  oil 
that  it  went  right  through  to  the  skin.      This  walrus  busi- 


408  FARTHES2'  NORTH 

ness  was  unquestionably  the  worst  work  of  the  whole 
expedition,  and  had  it  not  been  a  sheer  necessity  we 
should  have  let  the  animals  lie  where  they  were ;  but  we 
needed  fuel  for  the  winter,  even  if  we  could  have  done 
without  the  meat.  When  at  last  the  task  was  completed, 
and  we  had  two  great  heaps  of  blubber  and  meat  on 
shore,  well  covered  by  the  thick  walrus  hides,  we. were 
not  a  little  pleased. 

During  this  time  the  gulls  were  living  in  luxury. 
There  was  abundance  of  refuse,  blubber,  entrails,  and 
other  internal  organs.  They  gathered  in  large  flocks 
from  all  quarters,  both  ivory  and  glaucus  gulls,  and  kept 
up  a  perpetual  screaming  and  noise  both  night  and  day. 
When  they  had  eaten  as  much  as  they  could  manage 
they  generally  sat  out  on  the  ice -hummocks  and  chat- 
tered together.  When  we  came  down  to  skin  they  with- 
drew only  a  very  little  way  from  the  carcasses,  and  sat 
waiting  patiently  in  long  rows  on  the  ice  beside  us,  or, 
led  on  by  a  few  bold  officers,  drew  continually  nearer. 
No  sooner  did  a  little  scrap  of  blubber  fall  than  two  or 
three  ivory-gulls  would  pounce  upon  it,  often  at  our  very 
feet,  and  fi^ht  over  it  until  the  feathers  flew.  Outside 
the  fulmars  were  sailing  in  their  silent,  ghost-like  flight 
to  and  fro  over  the  surface  of  the  water.  Up  and  down 
the  edse  of  the  shore  flocks  of  kittiwakes  moved  inces- 
santly,  darting  like  an  arrow,  with  a  dull  splash,  towards 
the  surface  of  the  water,  whenever  a  little  crustacean  ap- 
peared there.     We  were  particularly  fond  of  these  birds, 


LAND   AT  LAST 


409 


for  they  kept  exckisively  to  the  marine  animals  and  left 
our  blubber  alone;  and  then  they  were  so  light  and 
pretty.  But  up  and  down  along  the  shore  the  skua 
[Stercoraritis  crepidatiis)  chased  incessantly,  and  every 
now  and  again  we  were  startled  by  a  pitiful  cry  of  distress 
above  our  heads  ;  it  was  a  kittiwake  pursued  by  a  skua. 


IN    THE    WATER   LAY    WALRUSES 


How  often  we  followed  with  our  eyes  that  wild  chase  up 
in  the  air,  until  at  last  the  kittiwake  had  to  drop  its  booty, 
and  down  shot  the  skua,  catching  it  even  before  it  touched 
the  water  !  Happy  creatures  that  can  move  with  such 
freedom  up  there  !     Out  in  the  water  lay  wah'uses,  diving 


4IO  FARTHEST  NORTH 

and  bellowing,  often  whole  herds  of  them  ;  and  high  up 
in  the  air,  to  and  fro,  flew  the  Httle  auks  in  swarms ;  you 
could  hear  the  whir  of  their  wings  far  off.  There  were 
cries  and  life  on  all  sides.  But  soon  the  sun  will  sink, 
the  sea  will  close  in,  the  birds  will  disappear  one  after 
another  towards  the  south,  the  polar  night  will  begin,  and 
there  will  be  profound,  unbroken  silence. 
\l  It  was  with  pleasure  that  we  at  last,  on  September  7th, 

set  to  work  to  build  our  hut.  We  had  selected  a  orood 
site  in  the  neighborhood,  and  from  this  time  forward  we 
might  have  been  seen  daily  going  out  in  the  morning  like 
other  laborers,  with  a  can  of  drinking-water  in  one  hand 
and  a  gun  in  the  other.  We  quarried  stones  up  among  the 
debris  from  the  cliff,  dragged  them  together,  dug  out  the 
site,  and  built  walls  as  well  as  we  could.  We  had  no  tools 
worth  mentioning  ;  those  we  used  most  were  our  two 
hands.  The  cut-off  sledge-runner  again  did  duty  as  a 
pick  with  which  to  loosen  the  fast-frozen  stones,  and  when 
we  could  not  manage  to  dig  up  the  earth  on  our  site  with 
our  hands  we  used  a  snow-shoe  staff  with  an  iron  ferrule. 
We  made  a  spade  out  of  the  shoulder-blade  of  a  walrus 
tied  to  a  piece  of  a  broken  snow-shoe  staff,  and  a  mattock 
out  of  a  walrus  tusk  tied  to  the  crosstree  of  a  sledee. 
They  were  poor  things  to  work  with,  but  we  managed  it 
with  patience,  and  little  by  little  there  arose  solid  walls  of 
stone  with  moss  and  earth  between.  The  weather  was 
growing  gradually  colder,  and  hindered  us  not  a  little  in 
our  work.     The  soil  we  had  to  dig  in  hardened,  and  the 


LAND   AT  LAST  41 1 

stones  that  had  to  be  quarried  froze  fast;  and  there  came 
snow  too.  But  great  was  our  surprise  when  we  crept  out 
of  our  den  on  the  morning  of  the  12th  of  September  to 
find  the  most  delightful  thaw,  with  4°  (C.)  of  heat  (39.2" 
Fahr.).  This  was  almost  the  highest  temperature  we  had 
experienced  throughout  the  expedition.  On  every  side 
streams  were  tumbling  in  foaming  falls  down  from  moun- 
tain and  glacier,  humming  along  merrily  among  the  stones 
down  to  the  sea.  Water  trickled  and  tinkled  everywhere; 
as  if  by  a  stroke  of  magic,  life  had  returned  to  frozen 
nature,  and  the  hill  looked  green  all  over.  One  could 
fancy  one's  self  far  south,  and  forget  that  a  long,  long- 
winter  was  drawing  near.  The  day  after,  everything 
was  chano-ed  a^ain.  The  orentle  orods  of  the  south,  who 
yesterday  had  put  forth  their  last  energies,  had  once 
more  fled  ;  the  cold  had  returned,  snow  had  fallen  and 
covered  every  trace:  it  would  not  yield  again.  This 
little  strip  of  bare  ground,  too,  was  in  the  power  of 
the  genii  of  the  cold  and  darkness  ;  they  held  sway  now, 
rioht  down  to  the  sea.  I  stood  lookino-  out  over  it. 
How  desolate  and  forsaken  this  spell  -  bound  nature 
looked !  My  eye  fell  upon  the  ground  at  my  feet. 
Down  there  among  the  stones,  the  poppy  still  reared 
its  beautiful  blossoms  above  the  snow;  the  last  rays  of 
the  departing  sun  would  once  more  kiss  its  yellow 
petals,  and  then  it  would  creep  beneath  its  covering  to 
sleep  through  the  long  winter,  and  awake  again  to  new 
life  in  the  spring.     Ah  to  be  able  to  do  the  same ! 


412  FARTHEST  NORTH 

After  a  week's  work  the  walls  of  our  hut  were  fin- 
ished. They  were  not  high,  scarcely  3  feet  above  the 
ground ;  but  we  had  dug  down  the  same  distance  into 
the  ground,  so  we  reckoned  that  it  would  be  high  enough 
to  stand  up  in.  Now  the  thing  was  to  get  it  roofed, 
but  this  was  not  so  easy.  The  only  materials  we  had 
towards  it  were,  as  before  mentioned,  the  log  we  had 
found  and  the  walrus  hides.  The  log,  which  was  quite 
12  inches  across,  Johansen  at  last,  after  a  day's  work, 
succeeded  in  cutting  in  two  with  our  little  axe,  aiid  with 
no  less  labor  we  rolled  it  up  over  the  talus  and  on 
to  the  level,  and  it  was  laid  on  the  roof  as  the  ridge- 
piece.  Then  there  were  the  hides ;  but  they  were 
stiff  and  frozen  fast  to  the  meat  and  blubber  heaps 
which  they  covered.  With  much  difficulty  we  at  length 
loosened  them  by  using  wedges  of  walrus  tusks,  stone, 
and  wood.  To  transport  these  great  skins  over  the 
long  distance  to  our  hut  was  a  no  less  difficult  matter. 
However,  by  rolling  them,  carrying  them,  and  dragging 
them  we  accomplished  this  too ;  but  to  get  the  frozen 
skins  stretched  over  the  hut  was  the  worst  of  all.  We 
got  on  pretty  well  with  three  half-skins,  just  managing 
to  bend  them  a  little ;  but  the  fourth  half  was  frozen 
quite  stiff,  and  we  had  to  find  a  hole  in  the  ice,  and  sink 
it  in  the  sea,  to  thaw  it. 

It  was  almost  a  cause  for  anxietv,  I  thouoht,  that  all 
this  time  we  saw  nothing  of  any  bears.  They  were 
what  we  had  to  live  upon  all  through  the  winter,  and  the 


LAND   AT  LAST  413 

six  we  had  would  not  go  far.  I  thought,  however,  that 
it  might  easily  be  accounted  for,  as  the  fjord-ice,  to  which 
the  bear  prefers  to  keep,  had  taken  its  departure  on  the 
day  when  we  had  nearly  drifted  out  to  sea  with  the 
walruses,  and  I  thought  that,  when  the  ice  now  formed 
again,  bears  would  appear  once  more.  It  was  therefore  a 
relief  when  one  morning  (September  23d)  I  caught  sight 
of  a  bear  in  front  of  me,  just  as  I  came  round  the  promon- 
tory to  look  at  the  skin  that  we  had  in  soak  in  the  sea. 
It  was  standing  on  the  shore  close  by  the  skin.  It  had 
not  seen  me,  and  I  quickly  drew  back  to  let  Johansen, 
who  was  following  with  his  gun,  pass  me,  while  I  ran 
back  to  fetch  mine.  When  I  returned,  Johansen  lay  on 
the  same  spot  behind  a  stone,  and  had  not  fired.  There 
were  two  bears,  one  by  the  hut  and  one  by  the  shore; 
and  Johansen  could  not  get  up  to  the  one  without  being 
seen  by  the  other.  When  I  had  gone  after  my  gun  the 
bear  had  turned  its  steps  towards  the  hut ;  but  just  as 
it  reached  it  Johansen  suddenly  saw  two  bear's  paws 
come  quickly  over  the  edge  of  the  wall  and  hit  out  at 
the  first  bear,  and  a  head  followed  immediately  after. 
This  fellow  was  busily  gnawing  at  our  roof  hides,  which 
he  had  torn  down  and  bent,  so  that  we  had  to  put  them 
into  the  sea  too,  to  get  them  thawed.  The  first  bear 
had  to  retreat  to  the  shore  once  more,  where  we  after- 
wards discovered  it  had  drawn  up  our  hide  and  had 
been  scraping  the  fat  off  it.  Under  cover  of  some  hum- 
mocks we  now  ran  towards  it.     It  noticed  us,  and  set  off 


414  FARTHEST  NORTH 

running,  and  I  was  only  able  to  send  a  bullet  through 
its  body  from  behind.  Shouting  out  to  Johansen  that 
he  must  look  after  the  other  bear,  I  set  off  runnino-  and 
after  a  couple  of  hours'  pursuit  up  the  fjord  I  at  last 
chased  it  up  under  the  wall  of  a  glacier,  where  it  pre- 
pared to  defend  itself.  I  went  right  up  to  it,  but  it 
growled  and  hissed,  and  made  one  or  two  attacks  on  me 
from  the  elevation  on  which  it  stood  before  I  finally  put 
an  end  to  its  existence.  When  I  got  back  Johansen  was 
busy  skinning  the  other  bear.  It  had  been  alarmed  by 
us  when  we  attacked  the  first,  and  had  gone  a  long  way 
out  over  the  ice ;  it  had  then  returned  to  look  for  its 
companion,  and  Johansen  had  shot  it.  Our  winter  store 
was  increasing. 

The  next  day  (September  24th),  as  we  were  setting 
out  to  work  at  our  hut,  we  saw  a  large  herd  of  walruses 
lying  out  on  the  ice.  We  had  both  had  more  than 
enough  of  these  animals,  and  had  very  little  inclination 
for  them.  Johansen  was  of  candid  opinion  that  w^e  had 
no  need  for  them,  and  could  let  them  lie  in  peace;  but 
I  thought  it  was  rather  improvident  to  have  food  and 
fuel  lying  at  one's  very  door  and  make  no  use  of  them, 
so  we  set  off  with  our  guns.  To  steal  up  to  the  animals, 
under  cover  of  some  elevations  on  the  ice,  was  a  matter 
of  small  difficulty,  and  we  had  soon  come  within  40  feet 
of  them,  and  could  lie  there  quietly  and  watch  them. 
The  point  was  to  choose  one's  victim,  and  make  good 
use  of  one's  shot,  so  as  not  to  waste  cartridges.     There 


LAND   AT  LAST  415 

were  both  old  and  young  animals,  and,  having  had  more 
than  enough  of  big  ones,  we  decided  to  try  for  the  two 
smallest  that  we  could  see ;  we  thought  we  had  no  need 
of  more  than   two.     As  we  lay  waiting  for  them   to  turn 
their  heads  and  give  us  the  chance  of  a  good  shot,  we 
had   plenty   of   opportunity   to    watch    them.       They  are 
strange  animals.      They  lay  incessantly  poking  one   an- 
other in  the   back   with    their  huge  tusks,  both   the  big 
old   ones   and   the   little   young   ones.       If   one   of    them 
turned  over  a  little,  so  as  to  come   near  and  disturb  his 
neighbor,  the   latter   immediately  raised  itself,  grunting, 
and  dug  its  tusks  into  the  back  of  the  first.     It  was  by 
no   means   a  gentle  caress,  and  it  is  well  for  them  that 
they  have  such  a  thick  hide  ;    but,  as  it  was,  the  blood 
ran    down    the    backs   of  several   of   them.      Tlie   other 
w^ould,  perhaps,  start   up   too,  and   return   the    little    at- 
tention  in   the    same    manner.       But    it   was    when    an- 
other   guest   came    up    from    the    sea   that   there  was   a 
stir  in  the   camp;   they  all  grunted  in  chorus,  and   one 
of    the    old    bulls    that   lay  nearest    to    the    new   arrival 
p-ave  him  some  well-meant  blows.     The  new-comer,  how- 
ever,  drew  himself  cautiously  up,  bowed  respectfully,  and 
little   by  little   drew  himself   in   among    the  others,  who 
also  then  orave  him   as  many  blows  as  time  and  circum- 
stances  would  permit,  until  they  finally  composed  them- 
selves  again,  and    lay   quiet    until    another    interruption 
came.     We  waited  in  vain  for  the  animals  we  had  picked 
out   to   turn   their  heads  enough   to   let   us  get   a  good 


4i6  FARTHEST  NORTH 

shot ;  but  as  they  were  comparatively  small  we  thought 
that  a  bullet  in  the  middle  of  the  forehead  might  be 
enough  for  them,  and  at  last  we  fired.  They  started  up, 
however,  and  turned  over,  half  stunned,  into  the  water. 
Then  there  was  a  commotion  !  The  whole  herd  quickly 
raised  their  ugly  heads,  glared  at  us,  and  one  by  one 
plunged  out  over  the  edge  of  the  ice.  We  had  hastily 
loaded  again,  and  as  it  was  not  difificult  now  to  get  a 
good  shot  we  fired,  and  there  lay  two  animals,  one  young 
and  one  old.  Most  of  the  others  dived,  only  one  re- 
maining quietly  lying,  and  looking  wonderingly,  now 
at  its  two  dead  companions,  and  now  at  us  as  we 
came  up  to  it.  We  did  not  quite  know  what  to  do ; 
we  thought  that  the  two  that  were  now  lying  there 
would  give  us  more  than  enough  to  do,  but  neverthe- 
less it  was  tempting  to  take  this  great  monster  as 
well,  while  we  were  about  it.  While  Johansen  was 
standing  with  his  gun,  considering  whether  he  should 
fire  or  not,  I  took  the  opportunity  of  photographing 
both  him  and  the  walrus.  It  ended,  however,  in  our 
lettino-  it  ^q>  unharmed;  we  did  not  think  we  could 
afford  to  sacrifice  more  cartridges  upon  it.  Meantime 
the  water  beyond  was  seething  with  furious  animals,  as 
they  broke  up  the  ice  round  about  and  filled  the  air 
with  their  roaring.  The  big  bull  himself  seemed  espe- 
cially anxious  to  get  at  us ;  he  kept  returning  to  the 
edge  of  the  ice,  getting  half  up  on  to  it  to  grunt  and  bel- 
low at  us  and  look  long  at  his  dead  comrades,  whom  he 


LAND   AT  LAST 


417 


evidently  wished  to  take  with  him.  But  we  would  not 
waste  more  cartridges  upon  them,  and  he  threw  himself 
back,  only  to  return  again  immediately.  Gradually  the 
whole  herd  departed,  and  we   could  hear  the  big  bull's 


"l    PHOTOGRAPHED    HIM    AND    THE    WALRUS 


grunting  becoming  more  and  more  distant ;  but  suddenly 
his  huge  head  appeared  again  at  the  edge  of  the  ice,  close 
to  us,  as  he  challenged  us  with  a  roar,  and  then  disap- 
peared again  as  quickly  as  he  had  come.  This  was 
repeated  three  or  four  times  after  our  having  in  the  inter- 
vals heard  him  far  out ;  but  at  last  he  disappeared  entire- 
11.-27 


41 8  FARTHEST  NORTH 

ly,  and  we  continued  our  work  of  skinning  in  peace.  We 
very  quickly  skinned  the  smaller  of  the  walruses ;  it  was 
easy  to  manipulate  compared  to  those  we  were  accus- 
tomed to.  The  other,  however,  was  a  great  fellow  that 
could  not  be  easily  turned  over  in  the  hollow  in  the  snow 
where  he  lay ;  so  we  contented  ourselves  with  skinning 
one  side  from  head  to  tail,  and  then  went  home  again 
with  our  blubber  and  skins.  We  now  thought  we  should 
have  blubber  enough  for  winter  fuel,  and  had  also  abun- 
dance of  skins  for  covering  the  roof  of  our  hut. 

The  walruses  still  kept  near  us  for  some  time.  Every 
now  and  then  we  would  hear  some  violent  blows  on  the 
ice  from  beneath,  two  or  three  in  succession,  and  then  a 
great  head  would  burst  up  with  a  crash  through  the  ice. 
It  would  remain  there  for  a  time  panting  and  puffing  so 
that  it  would  be  heard  a  long  way  off,  and  then  vanish 
again.  On  September  25th,  while  we  were  pulling  our 
roof  hides  out  of  the  water  at  a  hole  near  the  shore,  we 
heard  the  same  crashing  in  the  ice  a  little  farther  out, 
and  a  walrus  came  up  and  then  dived  again.  "  Look 
there  !  It  won't  be  long  before  we  have  him  in  this 
hole."  The  words  were  scarcely  spoken,  when  our  hide 
in  the  water  was  pushed  aside  and  a  huge  head,  with 
bristles  and  two  long  tusks,  popped  up  in  front  of  us.  It 
gazed  fixedly  and  wickedly  at  us  standing  there,  then 
there  was  a  tremendous  splash  and  it  was  gone. 

Our  hides  were  now  so  far  softened  in  the  sea  that  we 
could  stretch  them  over  the  roof.     They  were  so   long 


LAND   AT  LAST  419 

that  they  reached  from  one  side  of  the  hut  right  over  the 
ridge-piece  down  to  the  other  side,  and  we  stretched 
them  by  hanging  large  stones  at  both  ends,  attached  by 
strips  of  hide,  thus  weighing  them  down  over  the  edges 
of  the  wall,  and  we  then  piled  stones  upon  them.  By  the 
aid  of   stones,  moss,  strips   of  hide,  and   snow  to   cover 


"  IT    GAZED    WICKEDLY    AT    US " 

everything,  we  made  the  edges  of  the  walls  to  some 
extent  close-fitting.  To  make  the  hut  habitable  we  still 
had  to  construct  benches  of  stone  to  lie  upon  inside  it, 
and  also  a  door.     This  consisted  of  an  opening  in  one 


420  FARTHEST  NORTH 

corner  of  the  wall,  which  led  into  a  short  passage  dug  out 
in  the  ground  and  subsequently  roofed  over  with  blocks 
of  ice,  on  very  much  the  same  principle  as  the  passage  to 
an  Eskimo's  house.  We  had  not  dug  this  passage  so 
long  as  we  wished  before  the  ground  was  frozen  too 
hard  for  our  implements.  It  was  so  low  that  we  had  to 
creep  through  it  in  a  squatting  posture  to  get  into  the 
hut.  The  inner  opening  was  covered  with  a  bearskin 
curtain,  sewed  firmly  to  the  walrus  hide  of  the  roof;  the 
outer  end  was  covered  with  a  loose  bearskin  laid  over  the 
opening.  It  began  to  grow  cold  now,  as  low  as  —  20°  C. 
(4°  below  zero,  Fahr.);  and  living  in  our  low  den,  where 
we  had  not  room  to  move,  became  more  and  more  in- 
tolerable. The  smoke,  too,  from  the  oil-lamp,  when  we 
did  any  cooking,  always  affected  our  eyes.  We  grew 
daily  more  impatient  to  move  into  our  new  house,  which 
now  appeared  to  us  the  acme  of  comfort.  Our  ever- 
recurring  remark  while  we  were  building  was,  how  nice 
and  snug  it  would  be  when  we  got  in,  and  we  depicted 
to  each  other  the  many  pleasant  hours  we  should  spend 
there.  We  were,  of  course,  anxious  to  discover  all  the 
bright  points  that  we  could  in  our  existence.  The  hut 
was  certainly  not  large;  it  was  10  feet  long  and  6  feet 
wide,  and  when  you  lay  across  it  you  kicked  the  wall  on 
one  side  and  butted  it  on  the  other.  You  could  move 
in  it  a  little,  however,  and  even  I  could  almost  stand  up- 
right under  the  roof.  This  was  a  thought  which  es- 
pecially appealed  to  us.     Fancy  having  a  place  sheltered 


LAND   AT  LAST  421 

from  the  wind  where  you  could  stretch  your  limbs  a  lit- 
tle !  We  had  not  had  that  since  last  March,  on  board 
the  Fnini.  It  was  long,  however,  before  everything  was 
in  order,  and  we  would  not  move  in  until  it  was  quite 
finished. 

The  day  we  had  skinned  our  last  walruses  I  had 
taken  several  tendons  from  their  backs,  thinking  they 
might  be  very  useful  when  we  made  ourselves  clothes  for 
the  winter,  for  we  were  entirely  without  thread  for  that 
purpose.  Not  until  a  few  days  afterwards  (September 
26th)  did  I  recollect  that  these  tendons  had  been  left  on 
the  ice  beside  the  carcasses.  I  went  out  there  to  look  for 
them,  but  found,  to  my  sorrow,  that  gulls  and  foxes  had 
long  since  made  away  with  them.  It  was  some  comfort, 
however,  to  find  traces  of  a  bear,  which  must  have  been 
at  the  carcasses  during  the  night,  and  as  I  looked  about 
I  caught  sight  of  Johansen  running  after  me,  making 
signs  and  pointing  out  towards  the  sea.  I  turned  that 
way,  and  there  was  a  large  bear,  walking  to  and  fro  and 
looking  at  us.  We  had  soon  fetched  our  guns,  and 
while  Johansen  remained  near  the  land  to  receive  the 
bear  if  it  canie  that  way,  I  made  a  wide  circuit  round  it 
on  the  ice  to  drive  it  landward,  if  it  should  prove  to  be 
frightened.  In  the  meantime,  it  had  lain  down  out  there 
beside  some  holes,  I  suppose  to  watch  for  seals.  I  stole 
up  to  it ;  it  saw  me  and  at  first  came  nearer,  but  then 
thought  better  of  it,  and  moved  aw^ay  again,  slowly  and 
majestically,  out  over  the  new  ice.     I  had  no  great  de- 


422  FARTHEST  NORTH 

sire  to  follow  it  in  that  direction,  and  though  the  range 
was  long  I  thought  I  must  try  it.  First  one  shot ;  it 
passed  over.  Then  one  more ;  that  hit.  The  bear 
started,  made  several  leaps,  and  then  in  anger  struck 
the  ice  until  it  broke,  and  the  bear  fell  through.  There 
it  lay,  splashing  and  splashing  and  breaking  the  thin 
ice  with  its  weight  as  it  tried  to  get  out  again.  I  was 
soon  beside  it,  but  did  not  want  to  sacrifice  another 
cartridge ;  I  had  faint  hopes,  too,  that  it  would  manage 
to  get  out  of  the  water  by  itself,  and  thus  save  us  the 
trouble  of  dragging  such  a  heavy  animal  out.  I  called 
to  Johansen  to  come  with  a  rope,  sledges,  and  knives, 
and  in  the  meantime  I  walked  up  and  down  waiting 
and  watching.  The  bear  labored  hard,  and  made  the 
opening  in  the  ice  larger  and  larger.  It  was  wounded 
in  one  of  its  fore-legs,  so  that  it  could  use  only  the 
other,  and  the  two  hind-legs.  It  kept  on  taking  hold 
and  pulling  itself  up.  But  no  sooner  had  it  got  half 
up  than  the  ice  gave  way,  and  it  sank  down  again.  By 
desrees  its  movements  became  more  and  more  feeble, 
till  at  last  it  only  lay  still  and  panted.  Then  came  a 
few  spasms,  its  legs  stiffened,  its  head  sank  down  into 
the  water,  and  all  was  still.  While  I  was  walking  up 
and  down  I  several  times  heard  walruses  round  about, 
as  they  butted  holes  in  the  ice  and  put  their  heads 
through ;  and  I  was  thinking  to  myself  that  I  should 
soon  have  them  here  too.  At  that  moment  the  bear 
received    a   violent    blow   from    beneath,    pushing   it   to 


LAND   AT  LAST  423 

one  side,  and  up  came  a  huge  head  with  great  tusks ; 
it  snorted,  looked  contemptuously  at  the  bear,  then 
gazed  for  a  while  wonderingly  at  me  as  I  stood  on 
the  ice,  and  finally  disappeared  again.  This  had  the 
effect  of  making  me  think  the  old  solid  ice  a  little  far- 
ther in  a  pleasanter  place  of  sojourn  than  the  new  ice. 
My  suspicion  that  the  walrus  entertains  no  fear  for 
the  bear  was  more  than  ever  strengthened.  At  last 
Johansen  came  with  a  rope.  We  slipped  a  running 
noose  round  the  bear's  neck  and  tried  to  haul  it  out, 
but  soon  discovered  that  this  was  beyond  our  power; 
all  we  did  was  to  break  the  ice  under  the  animal, 
wherever  we  tried.  It  seemed  hard  to  have  to  orive  it 
up ;  it  was  a  big  bear  and  seemed  to  be  unusually  fat ; 
but  to  continue  in  this  way  until  we  had  towed  up  to  the 
edge  of  the  thick  ice  would  be  a  lengthy  proceeding. 
By  cutting  quite  a  narrow  crack  in  the  new  ice, 
only  wide  enough  to  draw  the  rope  through,  up  to  the 
edge  of  a  large  piece  of  ice  which  was  quite  near, 
we  got  pretty  well  out  of  the  difficulty.  It  was  now 
an  easy  matter  to  draw  the  bear  thither  under  the  ice, 
and  after  breaking  a  sufficiently  large  hole  we  drew  it 
out  there.  At  last  we  had  got  it  skinned  and  cut  up, 
and,  heavily  laden  with  our  booty,  we  turned  our  steps 
homeward  late  in  the  evening  to  our  den.  As  we  ap- 
proached the  beach  where  our  kayaks  were  lying  upon 
one  of  our  heaps  of  walrus  blubber  and  meat,  Johan- 
sen  suddenly  whispered   to   me,  "  I  say,  look   there !"     I 


4^4  FARTHEST  NORTH 

looked  up,  and  there  stood  three  bears  on  the  heaps, 
tearing  at  the  bUibber.  They  were  a  she-bear  and  two 
young  ones.  "  Oh  dear !"  said  I  ;  "  shall  we  have 
to  set  to  at  bears  again  ?"  I  was  tired,  and,  to  tell  the 
truth,  had  far  more  desire  for  our  sleeping-bag  and  a 
good  potful  of  meat.  In  a  trice  we  had  got  our  guns 
out,  and  were  approaching  cautiously ;  but  they  had 
cauffht  sigfht  of  us,  and  set  off  over  the  ice.  It  was  with 
an  undeniable  feeling  of  gratitude  that  we  watched  their 
retreating  forms.  A  little  later,  while  I  was  standing 
cutting  up  the  meat  and  Johansen  had  gone  to  fetch 
water,  I  heard  him  whistle.  I  looked  up,  and  he  pointed 
out  over  the  ice.  There  in  the  dusk  were  the  three  bears 
coming  back — our  blubber-heap  had  been  too  tempting 
for  them.  I  crept  with  my  gun  behind  some  stones  close 
to  the  heap.  The  bears  came  straight  on,  looking  neither 
to  right  nor  left,  and  as  they  passed  me  I  took  as  good 
an  aim  at  the  she-bear  as  the  darkness  would  allow,  and 
fired.  She  roared,  bit  her  side,  and  all  three  set  off  out 
over  the  ice.  There  the  mother  fell,  and  the  young  ones 
stood  astonished  and  troubled  beside  her  until  we  ap- 
proached, when  they  fled,  and  it  was  impossible  to  get 
within  range  of  them.  They  kept  at  a  respectful  distance, 
and  watched  us  while  we  dragged  the  dead  bear  to  land 
and  skinned  it.  When  we  went  out  next  morning, 
they  were  standing  sniffing  at  the  skin  and  meat;  but 
before  we  could  get  within  range  they  saw  us,  and  were 
off  again.     We    now   saw  that  they  had  been  there  all 


LAND   AT  LAST  4^5 

night,  and  had  eaten  up  their  own  mother's  stomach, 
which  had  contained  some  pieces  of  blubber.  In  the 
afternoon  thev  returned  once  more ;  and  ao^ain  we 
attempted,  but  in  vain,  to  get  a  shot  at  them.  Next 
morning  (Saturday,  September  28th),  when  we  crawled 
out,  we  caught  sight  of  a  large  bear  lying  asleep  on  our 
blubber-heap.  Johansen  crept  up  close  to  it  under  cover 
of  some  stones.  The  bear  heard  something  moving, 
raised  its  head,  and  looked  round.  At  the  same  instant 
Johansen  fired,  and  the  bullet  went  right  through  the 
bear's  throat,  just  below  the  cranium.  It  got  slowly  up, 
looked  contemptuously  at  Johansen,  considered  a  little, 
and  then  walked  quietly  away  with  long,  measured  steps, 
as  if  nothing  had  happened.  It  soon  had  a  couple  of 
bullets  from  each  of  us  in  its  body,  and  fell  out  on  the 
thin  ice.  It  was  so  full  of  food  that,  as  it  lay  there,  blub- 
ber and  oil  and  water  ran  out  of  its  mouth  on  to  the 
ice,  which  began  gradually  to  sink  under  its  weight,  un- 
til it  lay  in  a  large  pool,  and  we  hastily  dragged  it  in  to 
the  shore,  before  the  ice  gave  way  beneath  it.  It  was 
one  of  the  largest  bears  I  have  ever  seen,  but  also  one 
of  the  leanest ;  for  there  was  not  a  trace  of  fat  upon  it, 
neither  underneath  the  skin  nor  amono^  the  entrails. 
It  must  have  been  fasting  for  a  long  time  and  been 
uncommonly  hungry  ;  for  it  had  consumed  an  incredible 
quantity  of  our  blubber.  And  how  it  had  pulled  it  about! 
First  it  had  thrown  one  kayak  off,  then  it  had  scat- 
tered   the   blubber  about   in  all    directions,  scraping   off 


426  FARTHEST  NORTH 

the  best  of  the  fat  upon  almost  every  single  piece ;  then 
it  had  gathered  the  blubber  together  again  in  another 
place,  and  then,  happy  with  the  happiness  of  satiety, 
had  lain  down  to  sleep  upon  it,  perhaps  so  as  to  have 
it  handy  when  it  woke  up  again.  Previous  to  attack- 
ing the  blubber-heap  it  had  accomplished  another  piece 
of  work,  which  we  only  discovered  later  on.  It  had 
killed  both  the  young  bears  that  had  been  visiting  us ; 
we  found  them  not  far  off,  with  broken  skulls  and  frozen 
stiff.  We  could  see  by  the  footprints  how  it  had  run 
after  them  out  over  the  new  ice,  first  one  and  then  the 
other,  and  had  dragged  them  on  land,  and  laid  them 
down  without  touching  them  again.  What  pleasure  it 
can  have  in  doing  this  I  do  not  understand,  but  it  must 
have  regarded  them  as  competitors  in  the  struggle  for 
food.  Or  was  it,  perhaps,  a  cross  old  gentleman  who 
did  not  like  young  people }  "  It  is  so  nice  and  quiet 
here  now,"  said  the  ogre,  when  he  had  cleared  the 
country. 

Our  winter  store  now  began  quite  to  inspire  confi- 
dence. 

At  length,  on  the  evening  of  that  day,  we  moved  into 
our  new  hut ;  but  our  first  night  there  was  a  cold  one. 
Hitherto  we  had  slept  in  one  bag  all  the  time,  and  even 
the  one  we  had  made  by  sewing  together  our  two  blank- 
ets had  been  fairly  adequate.  But  now  we  thought  it 
would  not  be  necessary  to  sleep  in  one  bag  any  longer, 
as  we  should  make  the  hut  so  warm  by  burning  train-oil 


LAND   AT  LAST  AV 

lamps  in  it  that  we  could  very  well  lie  each  in  our  own 
berth  with  a  blanket  over  us,  and  so  we  had  unpicked  the 
bag.  Lamps  were  made  by  turning  up  the  corners  of 
some  sheets  of  German  silver,  filling  them  with  crushed 
blubber,  and  laying  in  this,  by  way  of  a  wick,  some  pieces 
of  stuff  from  the  bandages  in  the  medicine-bag.  They 
burned  capitally,  and  gave  such  a  good  light,  too,  that 
we  thought  it  looked  very  snug;  but  it  neither  was  nor 
ever  would  be  sufficient  to  warm  our  still  rather  per- 
meable hut,  and  we  lay  and  shivered  with  cold  all 
night.  We  almost  thought  it  was  the  coldest  night  we 
had  had.  Breakfast  next  morning  tasted  excellent,  and 
the  quantity  of  bear-broth  we  consumed  in  order  to  put 
a  little  warmth  into  our  bodies  is  incredible.  We 
at  once  decided  to  alter  this  by  making  along  the  back 
w^all  of  the  hut  a  sleeping-shelf  broad  enough  for  us  to 
lie  beside  one  another.  The  blankets  were  sewed  to- 
gether again,  we  spread  bearskins  under  us,  and  were  as 
comfortable  as  we  could  be  under  the  circumstances ;  and 
we  made  no  further  attempt  to  part  company  at  night. 
It  was  impossible  to  make  the  substratum  at  all  even, 
with  the  rough,  angular  stones  which,  now  that  every- 
thing was  frozen,  were  all  we  had  at  our  disposal,  and 
therefore  we  lay  tossing  and  twisting  the  whole  winter  to 
find  something  like  a  comfortable  place  among  all  the 
knobs.  But  it  was  hard,  and  remained  so ;  and  we  al- 
ways had  some  tender  spots  on  our  body,  and  even  sores 
on  our  hips,  with  lying.     But,  for  all  that,  we  slept.     In 


428  FARTHEST  NORTH 

one  corner  of  the  hut  we  made  a  Httle  hearth  to  boil  and 
roast  upon.  In  the  roof  above  we  cut  a  round  hole  in 
the  walrus  hide,  and  made  a  smoke -board  up  to  it  of 
bearskin.  We  had  not  used  this  hearth  long  before  we 
saw  the  necessity  of  building  a  chimney  to  prevent  the 
wind  from  beating  down,  and  so  filling  the  hut  with 
smoke  as  to  make  it  sometimes  intolerable.  The  only 
materials  we  had  for  building  this  were  ice  and  snow; 
but  with  these  we  erected  a  grand  chimney  on  the  roof, 
which  served  its  purpose,  and  made  a  good  draught.  It 
was  not  quite  permanent,  however;  the  hole  in  it  con- 
stantly widened  with  use,  and  it  was  not  altogether  guilt- 
less of  sometimes  dripping  down  on  to  the  hearth  ;  but 
there  was  abundance  of  this  building  material,  and  it  was 
not  difficult  to  renew  the  chimney  when  it  was  in  need 
of  repair.  This  had  to  be  done  two  or  three  times  dur- 
ing the  course  of  the  winter.  On  more  exposed  spots  we 
employed  walrus  flesh,  bone,  and  such -like  materials  to 
strengthen  it. 

Our  cookery  was  as  simple  as  possible.  It  consisted 
in  boiling  bear's  flesh  and  soup  (bouillon)  in  the  morn- 
ing and  frying  steak  in  the  evening.  We  consumed 
large  quantities  at  every  meal,  and,  strange  to  say,  we 
never  grew  tired  of  this  food,  but  always  ate  it  with  a 
ravenous  appetite.  We  sometimes  either  ate  blubber 
with  it  or  dipped  the  pieces  of  meat  in  a  little  oil.  A 
long  time  might  often  pass  when  we  ate  almost  nothing 
but  meat,  and  scarcely  tasted  fat;  but  when  one  of  us 


LAND   AT  LAST  429 

felt  inclined  for  it  again  he  would,  perhaps,  fish  up  some 
pieces  of  burnt  blubber  out  of  the  lamps,  or  eat  what  was 
left  of  the  blubber  from  which  we  had  melted  the  lamp- 
oil.  We  called  these  cakes,  and  thought  them  uncom- 
monly nice,  and  we  were  always  talking  of  how  delicious 
they  would  have  been  if  we  could  have  had  a  little  sugar 
on  them. 

We  still  had  some  of  the  provisions  we  had  brought 
from  the  Fram,  but  these  we  decided  not  to  use  durins: 
the  winter.  They  were  placed  in  a  depot  to  be  kept 
until  the  spring,  when  we  should  move  on.  The  depot 
was  well  loaded  with  stones  to  prevent  the  foxes  from 
running  away  with  the  bags.  They  w^ere  impudent 
enough  already,  and  took  all  the  movable  property  they 
could  lay  hold  of.  I  discovered,  for  instance,  on  October 
loth,  that  they  had  gone  off  with  a  quantity  of  odds  and 
ends  I  had  left  in  another  depot  during  the  erection  of 
the  hut ;  they  had  taken  everything  that  they  could  possi- 
bly carry  with  them,  such  as  pieces  of  bamboo,  steel  wire, 
harpoons  and  harpoon-lines,  my  collection  of  stones,  moss- 
es, etc.,  which  were  stored  in  small  sail-cloth  bas^s.  Per- 
haps  the  worst  of  all  was  that  they  had  gone  off  with  a 
large  ball  of  twine,  which  had  been  our  hope  and  comfort 
when  thinking  of  the  time  when  we  should  want  to  make 
clothes,  shoes,  and  sleeping-bags  of  bearskin  for  the 
winter ;  for  we  had  reckoned  on  making  thread  out  of 
the  twine.  It  was  fortunate  that  they  had  not  gone  off 
with    the   theodolite    and    our    other   instruments   which 


430  FARTHEST  NORTH 

stood  there;  but  these  must  have  been  too  heavy  for 
them.  I  was  angry  when  I  made  this  discovery,  and, 
what  made  it  more  aggravating,  it  happened  on  my 
birthday.  And  matters  did  not  improve  when,  while 
hunting  about  in  the  twiHght  on  the  beach  above  the 
place  where  the  things  had  been  lying,  to  see  if  I  could 
at  any  rate  discover  tracks  to  show  which  way  those 
demons  had  taken  them,  I  met  a  fox  that  stopped  at 
a  distance  of  20  feet  from  me,  sat  down,  and  uttered 
some  exasperating  howls,  so  piercing  and  weird  that  I 
had  to  stop  my  ears.  It  was  evidently  on  its  way  to  my 
things  again,  and  was  now  provoked  at  being  disturbed. 
I  got  hold  of  some  large  stones  and  flung  them  at  it. 
It  ran  off  a  little  way,  but  then  seated  itself  upon  the 
edee  of  the  orlacier  and  howled  on,  while  I  went  home 
to  the  hut  in  a  rage,  lay  down,  and  speculated  as  to  what 
we  should  do  to  be  revenged  on  the  obnoxious  animals. 
We  could  not  spare  cartridges  to  shoot  them  with,  but 
we  might  make  a  trap  of  stones.  This  we  determined 
to  do,  but  nothing  ever  came  of  it ;  there  were  always  so 
many  other  things  to  occupy  us  at  first,  while  we  still 
had  the  opportunity,  before  the  snow  covered  the  talus, 
and  while  it  was  light  enough  to  find  suitable  stones. 
Meanwhile  the  foxes  continued  to  annoy  us.  One  day 
they  had  taken  our  thermometer,*  which  we  always  kept 
outside  the  hut,  and  gone  off  with  it.    We  searched  for  it 

*  It  was  a  registering  thermometer,  which  was  also  used  as  a  sling- 
thermometer. 


2: 

H 

w 

o 


LAND   AT  LAST  433 

in  vain  for  a  long  time,  until  at  last  we  found  it  buried 
in  a  heap  of  snow  a  little  way  off.  From  that  time  we 
were  very  careful  to  place  a  stone  over  it  at  night,  but 
one  morning  found  that  the  foxes  had  turned  over  the 
stone,  and  had  gone  off  with  the  thermometer  again. 
The  only  thing  we  found  this  time  was  the  case,  which 
they  had  thrown  away  a  little  way  off.  The  thermom- 
eter itself  we  were  never  to  see  again ;  the  snow  had 
unfortunately  drifted  in  the  night,  so  that  the  tracks 
had  disappeared.  Goodness  only  knows  what  fox-hole 
it  now  adorns  ;  but  from  that  day  we  learned  a  les- 
son, and  henceforward  fastened  our  last  thermometer 
securely. 

Meanwhile  time  passed.  The  sun  sank  lower  and 
lower,  until  on  October  15th  we  saw  it  for  the  last 
time  above  the  ridge  to  the  south ;  the  days  grew  rapidly 
darker,  and  then  began  our  third  polar  night. 

We  shot  two  more  bears  in  the  autumn,  one  on  the 
8th  and  one  on  the  21st  of  October;  but  from  that  time 
we  saw  no  more  until  the  following  spring.  When  I 
awoke  on  the  morning  of  October  8th  I  heard  the  crunch- 
ing of  heavy  steps  in  the  snow  outside,  and  then  began  a 
rummaging  about  among  our  meat  and  blubber  up  on 
the  roof.  I  could  hear  it  was  a  bear,  and  crept  out  with 
my  gun;  but  when  I  came  out  of  the  passage  I  could  see 
nothing  in  the  moonlight.  The  animal  had  noticed  me, 
and    had    already    disappeared.     We  did   not  altogether 

regret    this,  as  we  had  no  great  desire  to  set  to  at  the 
II.— 28 


434  FARTHEST  NORTH 

cold  task  of  skinning  now,  in  a  wind,  and  with  39°  (70.2° 
Fahr.)  of  frost. 

There  was  not  much  variety  in  our  Hfe.  It  consisted 
in  cooking  and  eating  breakfast  in  the  morning.  Then,' 
perhaps,  came  another  nap,  after  which  we  would  go  out 
to  get  a  little  exercise.  Of  this,  however,  we  took  no 
more  than  was  necessary,  as  our  clothes,  saturated  as 
they  were  with  fat,  and  worn  and  torn  in  many  places, 
were  not  exactly  adapted  for  remaining  in  the  open  air 
in  winter.  Our  wind  clothes,  which  we  should  have  had 
outside  as  a  protection  against  the  wind,  were  so  worn 
and  torn  that  we  could  not  use  them;  and  we  had  so 
little  thread  to  patch  them  with  that  I  did  not  think  we 
ought  to  use  any  of  it  until  the  spring,  when  we  had  to 
prepare  for  our  start.  I  had  counted  on  being  able  to 
make  ourselves  clothes  of  bearskins,  but  it  took  time  to 
cleanse  them  from  all  blubber  and  fat,  and  it  was  even  a 
slower  business  getting  them  dried.  The  only  way  to  do 
this  was  to  spread  them  out  under  the  roof  of  the  hut; 
but  there  was  room  for  only  one  at  a  time.  When  at 
last  one  was  ready  we  had,  first  of  all,  to  use  it  on  our 
bed,  for  we  were  lying  on  raw,  greasy  skins,  which  were 
gradually  rotting.  When  our  bed  had  been  put  in  order 
with  dried  skins  we  had  to  think  about  making  a  sleep- 
ing-bag, as,  after  a  time,  the  blanket-bag  that  we  had  got 
rather  cold  to  sleep  in.  About  Christmas-time,  accord- 
ingly, we  at  last  managed  to  make  ourselves  a  bearskin 
bag.     In   this  way  all  the  skins  we  could  prepare  were 


LAND   AT  LAST  435 

used  up,  and  we  continued  to  wear  the  clothes  we  had 
throuohout  the  winter. 

These  walks,  too,  were  a  doubtful  pleasure,  because 
there  is  always  a  wind  there,  and  it  blew  hard  under  the 
steep  cliff.  We  felt  it  a  wonderful  relief  when  it  occasion- 
ally happened  to  be  almost  calm.  As  a  rule,  the  wind 
howled  above  us  and  lashed  the  snow  along,  so  that 
everything  was  wrapped  in  mist.  Many  days  would  some- 
times pass  almost  without  our  putting  our  heads  out  of 
the  passage,  and  it  was  only  bare  necessity  that  drove 
us  out  to  fetch  ice  for  drinking-water,  or  a  leg  or  carcass 
of  a  bear  for  food,  or  some  blubber  for  fuel.  As  a  rule, 
we  also  brought  in  some  sea-water  ice,  or,  if  there  were 
an  opening  or  a  crack  to  be  found,  a  little  sea-water  for 
our  soup. 

When  we  came  in,  and  had  mustered  up  appetite  for 
another  meal,  we  had  to  prepare  supper,  eat  till  we  were 
satisfied,  and  then  get  into  our  bag  and  sleep  a's  long  as 
possible  to  pass  the  time.  On  the  whole,  we  had  quite  a 
comfortable  time  in  our  hut.  By  means  of  our  train-oil 
lamps  we  could  keep  the  temperature  in  the  middle  of 
the  room  at  about  freezing-point.  Near  the  wall,  how- 
ever, it  was  considerably  colder,  and  there  the  damp 
deposited  itself  in  the  shape  of  beautiful  hoar-frost 
crystals,  so  that  the  stones  were  quite  white ;  and  in 
happy  moments  we  could  dream  that  we  dwelt  in  marble 
halls.  This  splendor,  however,  had  its  disadvantages, 
for  when  the  outside  temperature  rose,  or  when  we  heat- 


436  FARI'HEST  NORTH 

ed  up  the  hut  a  little,  rivulets  ran  down  the  wall  into 
our  sleeping  -  bag.  We  took  turns  at  being  cook,  and 
Tuesday,  when  one  ended  his  cooking -week  and  the 
other  began,  afforded  on  that  account  the  one  variation 
in  our  lives,  and  formed  a  boundary-mark  by  which  we 
divided  out  our  time.  We  always  reckoned  up  how 
many  cooking-weeks  we  had  before  we  should  break  up 
our  camp  in  the  spring.  I  had  hoped  to  get  so  much 
done  this  winter — work  up  my  observations  and  notes, 
and  write  some  of  the  account  of  our  journey;  but  very 
little  was  done.  It  was  not  only  the  poor,  flickering 
light  of  the  oil -lamp  which  hindered  me,  nor  yet  the 
uncomfortable  position — either  lying  on  one's  back,  or 
sitting  up  and  fidgeting  about  on  the  hard  stones,  while 
the  part  of  the  body  thus  exposed  to  pressure  ached; 
but  altogether  these  surroundings  did  not  predispose 
one  to  work.  The  brain  worked  dully,  and  I  never 
felt  inclined  to  write  anything.  Perhaps,  too,  this  was 
owing  to  the  impossibility  of  keeping  what  you  wrote 
upon  clean ;  if  you  only  took  hold  of  a  piece  of  paper 
your  fingers  left  a  dark -brown,  greasy  mark,  and  if  a 
corner  of  your  clothes  brushed  across  it,  a  dark  streak 
appeared.  Our  journals  of  this  period  look  dreadful. 
They  are  "  black  books  "  in  the  literal  sense  of  the  term. 
Ah !  how  we  longed  for  the  time  when  we  should 
once  more  be  able  to  write  on  clean  white  paper  and 
with  black  ink !  I  often  had  difificulty  in  reading  the 
pencil  notes  I  had  written  the  day  before,  and  now,  in 


AN    ILLEGIBLE    PAGE    FROM    DIARY 


LAND   AT  LAST  439 

writing  this  book,  it  is  all  I  can  do  to  find  out  what  was 
once  written  on  these  dirty,  dark- brown  pages.  I  ex- 
pose them  to  all  possible  lights,  I  examine  them  with  a 
magnifying-glass ;  but,  notwithstanding,  I  often  have  to 
give  it  up. 

The  entries  in  my  journal  for  this  time  are  exceed- 
ingly meagre ;  there  are  sometimes  weeks  when  there  is 
nothing  but  the  most  necessary  meteorological  observa- 
tions with  remarks.  The  chief  reason  for  this  is  that  our 
life  was  so  monotonous  that  there  was  nothing  to  write 
about.  The  same  thoughts  came  and  went  day  after 
day;  there  was  no  more  variety  in  them  than  in  our 
conversation.  The  very  emptiness  of  the  journal  real- 
ly gives  the  best  representation  of  our  life  during  the 
nine  months  we  lived  there. 

"Wednesday,  November  27th,  —  23°  C.  (9.4°  below 
zero,  Fahr.).  It  is  windy  weather,  the  snow  whirling 
about  your  ears,  directly  you  put  your  head  out  of  the 
passage.  Everything  is  gray;  the  black  stones  can  be 
made  out  in  the  snow  a  little  way  up  the  beach,  and 
above  you  can  just  divine  the  presence  of  the  dark 
cliff;  but  wherever  else  the  gaze  is  turned,  out  to  sea 
or  up  the  fjord,  there  is  the  same  leaden  darkness;  one 
is  shut  out  from  the  wide  world,  shut  into  one's  self.  The 
wind  comes  in  sharp  gusts,  driving  the  snow  before  it ; 
but  up  under  the  crest  of  the  mountain  it  whistles  and 
roars  in  the  crevices  and  holes  of  the  basaltic  walls — 
the  same   never-ending  song  that  it  has  sung  through 


440  FARTHEST  NORTH 

the  thousands  of  years  that  are  past,  and  will  go  on 
singing  through  thousands  of  years  to  come.  And  the 
snow  whirls  along  in  its  age-old  dance ;  it  spreads  itself 
in  all  the  crevices  and  hollows,  but  it  does  not  succeed 
in  covering  up  the  stones  on  the  beach ;  black  as  ever, 
they  project  into  the  night.  On  the  open  space  in  front 
of  the  hut  two  figures  are  running  up  and  down  like 
shadows  in  the  winter  darkness  to  keep  themselves 
warm,  and  so  they  will  run  up  and  down  on  the  path 
they  have  trampled  out,  day  after  day,  till  the  spring 
comes. 

"Sunday,  December  ist.  Wonderfully  beautiful 
weather  for  the  last  few  days ;  one  can  never  weary 
of  going  up  and  down  outside,  while  the  moon  trans- 
forms the  whole  of  this  ice -world  into  a  fairy -land. 
The  hut  is  still  in  shadow  under  the  mountain  which 
hangs  above  it,  dark  and  lowering ;  but  the  moonlight 
floats  over  ice  and  fjord,  and  is  cast  back  glittering  from 
every  snowy  ridge  and  hill.  A  weird  beauty,  without 
feeling,  as  though  of  a  dead  planet,  built  of  shining 
white  marble.  Just  so  must  the  mountains  stand  there, 
frozen  and  icy  cold;  just  so  must  the  lakes  lie  con- 
gealed beneath  their  snowy  covering ;  and  now  as  ever 
the  moon  sails  silently  and  slowly  on  her  endless  course 
through  the  lifeless  space.  And  everything  so  still,  so 
awfully  still,  with  the  silence  that  shall  one  day  reign 
when  the  earth  again  becomes  desolate  and  empty, 
when  the  fox  will  no  more  haunt  these  moraines,  when 


LAND   AT  LAST  441 

the  bear  will  no  longer  wander  about  on  the  ice  out 
there,  when  even  the  wind  will  not  rage — infinite  silence  ! 
In  the  flaming  aurora  borealis  the  spirit  of  space  hovers 
over  the  frozen  waters.  The  soul  bows  down  before  the 
majesty  of  night  and  death. 

"  Monday,  December  2d.  Morning.  To-day  I  can 
hear  it  -blowing  again  outside,  and  we  shall  have  an 
unpleasant  walk.  It  is  bitterly  cold  now  in  our  worn, 
greasy  clothes.  It  is  not  so  bad  when  there  is  no  wind; 
but  even  if  there  is  only  a  little  it  goes  right  through 
one.  But  what  does  it  matter }  Will  not  the  spring  one 
day  come  here  too }  Yes ;  and  over  us  arches  the  same 
heaven  now  as  always,  high  and  calm  as  ever;  and  as 
we  walk  up  and  down  here  shivering  we  gaze  into  the 
boundless  starry  space,  and  all  our  privations  and  sorrows 
shrink  into  nothingness.  Starlit  night,  thou  art  sublime- 
ly beautiful !  But  dost  thou  not  lend  our  spirit  too  migh- 
ty wings,  greater  than  we  can  control }  Couldst  thou 
but  solve  the  riddle  of  existence !  We  feel  ourselves  the 
centre  of  the  universe,  and  struggle  for  life,  for  immor- 
tality— one  seeking  it  here,  another  hereafter — while  thy 
silent  splendor  proclaims :  At  the  command  of  the  Eter- 
nal, you  came  into  existence  on  a  paltry  planet,  as  dimin- 
utive links  in  the  endless  chain  of  transformations ;  at 
another  command,  you  will  be  wiped  out  again.  Who 
then,  through  an  eternity  of  eternities,  will  remember 
that  there  once  was  an  ephemeral  being  who  could  bind 
sound  and  light  in  chains,  and  who  was  purblind  enough 


442  FARTHEST  NORTH 

to  spend  years  of  his  brief  existence  in  drifting  through 
frozen  seas  ?  Is,  then,  the  whole  thing  but  the  meteor 
of  a  moment  ?  Will  the  whole  history  of  the  world  evap- 
orate  like  a  dark,  gold-edged  cloud  in  the  glow  of  even- 
ing— achieving  nothing,  leaving  no  trace,  passing  like  a 
caprice  ? 

"  Evening.  That  fox  is  playing  us  a  great  many 
tricks;  whatever  he  can  move  he  goes  off  with.  He  has 
once  gnawed  off"  the  band  with  which  the  door-skin  is 
fastened,  and  every  now  and  then  we  hear  him  at  it 
again,  and  have  to  go  out  and  knock  on  the  roof  of  the 
passage.  To-day  he  went  off  with  one  of  our  sails,  in 
which  our  salt-water  ice  was  lying.  We  were  not  a  little 
alarmed  when  we  went  to  fetch  ice  and  found  sail  and 
all  gone.  We  had  no  doubt  as  to  who  had  been  there, 
but  we  could  not  under  any  circumstances  afford  to  lose 
our  precious  sail,  on  which  we  depended  for  our  voyage 
to  Spitzbergen  in  the  spring,  and  we  tramped  about  in 
the  dark,  up  the  beach,  over  the  level,  and  down  towards 
the  sea.  We  looked  everywhere,  but  nothing  was  to  be 
seen  of  it.  At  last  we  had  almost  given  it  up  when 
Johansen,  in  going  on  to  the  ice  to  get  more  salt-water 
ice,  found  it  at  the  edge  of  the  shore.  Our  joy  was  great ; 
but  it  was  wonderful  that  the  fox  had  been  able  to  drag: 
that  great  sail,  full  of  ice  too,  so  far.  Down  there,  how- 
ever, it  had  come  unfolded,  and  then  he  could  do  nothing 
with  it.  But  what  does  he  want  with  thinors  like  this } 
Is  it  to  lie  upon  in  his  winter  den }     One  would  almost 


LAND   AT  LAST  443 

think  so.  I  only  wish  I  could  come  upon  that  den,  and 
find  the  thermometer  again,  and  the  ball  of  twine,  and  the 
harpoon-line,  and  all  the  other  precious  things  he  has 
taken,  the  brute  ! 

"  Thursday,  December  5th.  It  seems  as  if  it  would 
never  end.  But  patience  a  little  longer,  and  spring  will 
come,  the  fairest  spring  that  earth  can  give  us.  There 
is  furious  weather  outside,  and  snow,  and  it  is  pleasant 
to  lie  here  in  our  warm  hut,  eating  steak,  and  listening 
to  the  wind  raging  over  us. 

"Tuesday,  December  loth.  It  has  been  a  bad  wind. 
Johansen  discovered  to  -  day  that  his  kayak  had  disap- 
peared. After  some  search  he  found  it  again  several 
hundred  feet  off,  up  the  beach ;  it  was  a  good  deal 
knocked  about,  too.  The  wind  must  first  have  lifted  it 
right  over  my  kayak,  and  then  over  one  big  stone  after 
another.  It  begins  to  be  too  much  of  a  good  thing  when 
even  the  kayaks  take  to  flying  about  in  the  air.  The 
atmosphere  is  dark  out  over  the  sea,  so  the  wind  has 
probably  broken  up  the  ice,  and  driven  it  out,  and  there 
is  open  water  once  more.* 

"  Last  night  it  all  at  once  grew  wonderfully  calm,  and 
the  air  was  surprisingly  mild.  It  was  delightful  to  be 
out,  and  it  is  long  since  we  have  had  such  a  long  walk 
on  our  beat.     It  does  one  good  to  stretch  one's  legs  now 

*  It  often  blew  very  fresh  there  under  the  mountain.  Another  time, 
one  of  my  snow-shoes,  which  was  stuck  into  the  snowdrift  beside  the  hut, 
was  broken  short  off  by  the  wind.     It  was  a  strong  piece  of  maple. 


444  FARTHEST  NORTH 

and  then,  otherwise  I  suppose  we  should  become  quite 
stiff  here  in  our  winter  lair.  Fancy,  only  12°  (21^°  Fahr.) 
of  frost  in  the  middle  of  December !  We  mi^ht  almost 
imagine  ourselves  at  home  —  forget  that  we  were  in  a 
land  of  snow  to  the  north  of  the  eighty-first  parallel. 

"Thursday,  December  12th.  Between  six  and  nine 
this  morning  there  were  a  number  of  shooting-stars,  most 
of  them  in  Serpentarius,  Some  came  right  from  the 
Great  Bear ;  afterwards  they  chiefly  came  from  the  Bull, 
or  Aldebaran,  or  the  Pleiades.  Several  of  them  were  very 
bright,  and  some  drew  a  streak  of  shining  dust  after 
them.  Lovely  weather.  But  night  and  day  are  now 
equally  dark.  We  walk  up  and  down,  up  and  down,  on 
the  level,  in  the  darkness.  Heaven  only  knows  how 
many  steps  we  shall  take  on  that  level  before  the  winter 
ends.  Through  the  gloom  we  could  see  faintly  only  the 
black  cliffs,  and  the  rocky  ridges,  and  the  great  stones  on 
the  beach,  which  the  wind  always  sweeps  clean.  Above 
us  the  sky,  clear  and  brilliant  with  stars,  sheds  its  peace 
over  the  earth :  far  in  the  west  falls  shower  after  shower 
of  stars,  some  faint,  scarcely  visible,  others  bright  like 
Roman  candles,  all  with  a  message  from  distant  worlds. 
Low  in  the  south  lies  a  bank  of  clouds,  now  and  again 
outlined  by  the  gleam  of  the  northern  lights ;  but  out 
over  the  sea  the  sky  is  dark*,  there  is  open  water  there. 
It  is  quite  pleasant  to  look  at  it ;  one  does  not  feel  so 
shut  in ;  it  is  like  a  connecting  link  with  life,  that  dark 
sea,  the  mighty  artery  of  the  world,  which  carries  tidings 


LAND  AT  LAST  445 

from  land  to  land,  from  people  to  people,  on  which  civili- 
zation is  borne  victorious  through  the  earth  ;  next  sum- 
mer it  will  carr}'  us  home. 

"  Thursday,  December  19th.  —28.5°  (19.3°  below  zero, 
P'ahr.),  It  has  turned  cold  again,  and  is  bitter  weather 
to  be  out  in.  But  what  does  it  signify }  W' e  are  com- 
fortable and  warm  in  here,  and  do  not  need  to  2:0  out 
more  than  we  like.  All  the  out-of-door  work  we  have  is 
to  bring  in  fresh  and  salt  water  ice  two  or  three  times  a 
week,  meat  and  blubber  now  and  again,  and  \^xy  occa- 
sionally a  skin  to  dry  under  the  roof.  And  Christmas, 
the  season  of  rejoicing,  is  drawing  near.  At  home,  every 
one  is  busy  now,  scarcely  knowing  how  to  get  time  for 
everything ;  but  here  there  is  no  bustle  ;  all  we  want  is 
to  make  the  time  pass.  Ah,  to  sleep,  sleep !  The  pot 
is  simmering  pleasantly  over  the  hearth ;  I  am  sitting 
waiting  for  breakfast,  and  gazing  into  the  flickering 
flames,  while  my  thoughts  travel  far  away.  What  is 
the  strange  power  in  fire  and  light  that  all  created  be- 
ings seek  them,  from  the  primary  lump  of  protoplasm 
in  the  sea  to  the  roving  child  of  man,  who  stops  in  his 
wanderings,  makes  up  a  fire  in  the  wood,  and  sits  down 
to  dismiss  all  care  and  revel  in  the  crackling  warmth. 
Involuntarily  do  these  snake -like,  fiery  tongues  arrest 
the  eye;  you  gaze  down  into  them  as  if  you  could  read 
your  fate  there,  and  memories  glide  past  in  motley  train. 
What,  then,  is  privation  }  What  the  present  ?  Forget  it, 
forget  yourself ;  you  have  the  power  to  recall  all  that  is 


446  FARTHEST  NORTH 

beautiful,  and  then  wait  for  the  summer.  ...  By  the  light 
of  the  lamp  she  sits  sewing  in  the  winter  evening.  Be- 
side her  stands  a  little  maiden  with  blue  eyes  and  gold- 
en hair,  playing  with  a  doll.  She  looks  tenderly  at  the 
child  and  strokes  her  hair ;  but  her  eyes  fill,  and  the  big 
tears  fall  upon  her  work. 

"  Johansen  is  lying  beside  me  asleep ;  he  smiles  in  his 
sleep.  Poor  fellow  !  he  must  be  dreaming  he  is  at  home 
at  Christmas-time  with  those  he  loves.  But  sleep  on — 
sleep  and  dream,  while  the  winter  passes ;  for  then  comes 
spring — the  spring  of  life  ! 

"  Sunday,  December  2 2d.  Walked  about  outside  for 
a  long  time  yesterday  evening,  while  Johansen  was  hav- 
ing a  thorough  clearing  in  the  hut  in  preparation  for 
Christmas.  This  consisted  chiefly  in  scraping  the  ashes 
out  of  the  hearth,  gathering  up  the  refuse  of  bone  and 
meat,  and  throwing  it  away,  and  then  breaking  up  the  ice, 
which  has  frozen  together  with  all  kinds  of  rubbish  and 
refuse  into  a  thick  layer  upon  the  floor,  making  the  hut 
rather  low  in  the  roof. 

"  The  northern  lights  were  wonderful.  However  often 
we  see  this  weird  play  of  light,  we  never  tire  of  gazing 
at  it ;  it  seems  to  cast  a  spell  over  both  sight  and  sense 
till  it  is  impossible  to  tear  one's  self  away.  It  begins 
to  dawn  with  a  pale,  yellow,  spectral  light  behind  the 
mountain  in  the  east,  like  the  reflection  of  a  fire  far 
away.  It  broadens,  and  soon  the  whole  of  the  eastern 
sky  is  one  glowing  mass  of  fire.     Now  it  fades  again. 


LAND   AT  LAST  447 

and  gathers  in  a  brightly  luminous  belt  of  mist  stretch- 
ing towards  the  southwest,  with  only  a  few  patches  of 
luminous  haze  visible  here  and  there.  After  a  while 
scattered  rays  suddenly  shoot  up  from  the  fiery  mist, 
almost  reaching  to  the  zenith ;  then  more ;  they  play 
over  the  belt  in  a  wild  chase  from  east  to  west.  They 
seem  to  be  always  darting  nearer  from  a  long,  long  way 
off.  But  suddenly  a  perfect  veil  of  rays  showers  from 
the  zenith  out  over  the  northern  sky ;  they  are  so  fine 
and  bright,  like  the  finest  of  glittering  silver  threads. 
Is  it  the  fire-giant  Surt  himself,  striking  his  mighty 
silver  harp,  so  that  the  strings  tremble  and  sparkle  in 
the  glow  of  the  flames  of  Muspellsheim }  Yes,  it  is  harp 
music,  wildly  storming  in  the  darkness ;  it  is  the  riotous 
war-dance  of  Surt  s  sons.  And  again  at  times  it  is  like 
softly  playing,  gently  rocking,  silvery  waves,  on  which 
dreams  travel  into  unknown  worlds. 

"  The  w^inter  solstice  has  come,  and  the  sun  is  at  its 
lowest;  but  still  at  midday  we  can  just  see  a  faint  glim- 
mer of  it  over  the  rids^es  in  the  south.  Now  it  is  again 
beginning  to  mount  northward ;  day  by  day  it  will  grow 
lighter  and  lighter,  and  the  time  will  pass  rapidly.  Oh, 
how  well  I  can  now  understand  our  forefathers'  old  cus- 
tom of  holding  an  uproarious  sacrificial  banquet  in  the 
middle  of  winter,  when  the  power  of  the  winter  dark- 
ness was  broken.  We  would  hold  an  uproarious  feast 
here  if  we  had  anything  to  feast  with ;  but  we  have 
nothing.     What  need   is   there,  either.-^     We   shall  hold 


448  FARTHEST  NORTH 

our  silent  festival  in  the  spirit,  and  think  of  the 
spring. 

"  In  my  walk  I  look  at  Jupiter  over  there  above  the 
crest  of  the  mountain  —  Jupiter,  the  planet  of  the  home; 
it  seems  to  smile  at  us,  and  I  recognize  my  good  at- 
tendant spirit.  Am  I  superstitious }  This  life  and  this 
scenery  might  well  make  one  so;  and,  in  fact,  is  not 
every  one  superstitious,  each  in  his  own  way  ?  Have 
not  I  a  firm  belief  in  my  star,  and  that  we  shall  meet 
again  ?  It  has  scarcely  forsaken  me  for  a  day.  Death, 
I  believe,  can  never  approach  before  one's  mission  is 
accomplished — never  comes  without  one  feeling  its  prox- 
imity; and  yet  a  cold  fate  may  one  day  cut  the  thread 
without  warning. 

"  Tuesday,  December  24th.  At  2  p.m.  to-day  —  24°  C. 
(11.2°  below  zero,  Fahr.).  And  this  is  Christmas-eve — 
cold  and  windy  out-of-doors,  and  cold  and  draughty  in- 
doors. How  desolate  it  is !  Never  before  have  we  ha4 
such  a  Christmas-eve. 

"  At  home  the  bells  are  now  ringing  Christmas  in. 
I  can  hear  their  sound  as  it  swings  through  the  air  from 
the  church  tower.     How  beautiful  it  is ! 

"  Now  the  candles  are  being  lighted  on  the  Christ- 
mas-trees, the  children  are  let  in  and  dance  round  in  joy- 
ous delight.  I  must  have  a  Christmas  party  for  children 
when  I  get  home.  This  is  the  time  of  rejoicing,  and 
there  is  feasting  in  every  cottage  at  home.  And  we  are 
keeping    the   festival   in   our  little   way.      Johansen   has 


LAND   AT  LAST  449 

turned  his  shirt  and  put  the  outside  shirt  next  him  ;  I 
have  done  the  same,  and  then  I  have  chanQ:ed  mv  draw- 
ers,  and  put  on  the  others  that  I  had  wrung  out  in  warm 
water.  And  I  have  washed  myself,  too,  in  a  quarter  of 
a  cu})  of  warm  water,  with  the  discarded  drawers  as 
sponge  and  towel.  Now  I  feel  quite  another  being;  my 
clothes  do  not  stick  to  my  body  as  much  as  they  did. 
Then  for  supper  we  had  '  fiskegratin,'  made  of  powdered 
fish  and  maize-meal,  with  train-oil  to  it  instead  of  butter, 
both  fried  and  boiled  (one  as  dry  as  the  other),  and  for 
dessert  we  had  bread  fried  in  train-oil.  To-morrow 
morning  we  are  o-oins;  to  have  chocolate  and  bread."''' 

"  Wednesday,  December  25th.  We  have  got  lovely 
Christmas  weather,  hardly  any  wind,  and  such  bright, 
beautiful  moonlight.  It  gives  one  quite  a  solemn  feel- 
ing. It  is  the  peace  of  thousands  of  years.  In  the  af- 
ternoon the  northern  lights  were  exceptionally  beautiful. 
When  I  came  out  at  6  o'clock  there  was  a  bright,  pale- 
yellow  bow  in  the  southern  sky.  It  remained  for  a  long 
time  almost  unchanged,  and  then  began  to  grow  much 
brighter  at  the  upper  margin  of  the  bow  behind  the 
mountain  crests  in  the  east.  It  smouldered  for  some 
time,  and  then  all  at  once  light  darted  out  westward 
along  the  bow ;  streamers  shot  up  all  along  it  towards 
the  zenith,  and  in  an  instant  the  whole  of  the  southern 


*  Christmas -eve  and    New- year's -e\^e  were  the  only    occasions   on 
which  we  allowed  ourselves  to  take  any  of  the  provisions  which  we  were 
keeping  for  our  journey  southward. 
11.— 2g 


V 


45 o  FARTHEST  NORTH 

sky  from  the  arc  to  the  zenith  was  aflame.  It  flickered 
and  blazed,  it  whirled  round  like  a  whirlwind  (moving 
with  the  sun),  rays  darted  backward  and  forward,  now 
red  and  reddish-violet,  now  yellow,  green,  and  dazzling 
white ;  now  the  rays  were  red  at  the  bottom  and  yellow 
and  green  farther  up,  and  then  again  this  order  was  in- 
verted. Higher  and  higher  it  rose ;  now  it  came  on  the 
north  side  of  the  zenith  too ;  for  a  moment  there  was  a 
splendid  corona,  and  then  it  all  became  one  whirling 
mass  of  fire  up  there ;  it  was  like  a  whirlpool  of  fire  in 
red,  yellow,  and  green,  and  the  eye  was  dazzled  with 
looking  at  it.  It  then  drew  across  to  the  northern  sky, 
where  it  remained  a  long  time,  but  not  in  such  brilliancy. 
The  arc  from  which  it  had  sprung  in  the  south  was  still 
visible,  but  soon  disappeared.  The  movement  of  the 
rays  was  chiefly  from  west  to  east,  but  sometimes  the  re- 
verse. It  afterwards  flared  up  brightly  several  times  in 
the  northern  sky ;  I  counted  as  many  as  six  parallel 
bands  at  one  time,  but  they  did  not  attain  to  the  bright- 
ness of  the  former  ones. 

"And  this  is  Christmas-day!  There  are  family  din- 
ners oroing:  on  at  home.  I  can  see  the  dionified  old 
father  standing  smiling  and  happy  in  the  doorway  to 
welcome  children  and  grandchildren.  Out-of-doors  the 
snow  is  falling  softly  and  silently  in  big  flakes  ;  the  young 
folk  come  rushing  in  fresh  and  rosy,  stamp  the  snow 
off  their  feet  in  the  passage,  shake  their  things  and  hang 
them  up,  and  then  enter  the  drawing-room,  where  the 


"^ 


LAND   AT  LAST  453 

fire  is  crackling  comfortably  and  cozily  in  the  stove,  and 
they  can  see  the  snovvflakes  falling  outside  and  covering 
the  Christmas  corn-sheaf.  A  delicious  smell  of  roastina: 
comes  from  the  kitchen,  and  in  the  dining-room  the  long 
table  is  laid  for  a  orood,  old-fashioned  dinner  with  orood 
old  wine.  How  nice  and  comfortable  everything  is ! 
One  might  fall  ill  with  longing  to  be  home.  But  wait, 
wait;  when  summer  comes.  .  .  . 

"  Oh,  the  road  to  the  stars  is  both  long  and  difficult ! 

"Tuesday,  December  31st.  And  this  year  too  is 
vanishing.  It  has  been  strange,  but,  after  all,  it  has 
perhaps  not  been  so  bad. 

''  They  are  ringing  out  the  old  year  now  at  home. 
Otir  church-bell  is  the  icy  wind  howling  over  glacier  and 
snow-field,  howling  fiercely  as  it  whirls  the  drifting  snow 
on  high  in  cloud  after  cloud,  and  sweeps  it  down  upon  us 
from  the  crest  of  the  mountain  up  yonder.  Far  in  up 
the  fjord  you  can  see  the  clouds  of  snow  chasing  one 
another  over  the  ice  in  front  of  the  orusts  of  wind,  and 
the  snow-dust  glittering  in  the  moonlight.  And  the  full 
moon  sails  silent  and  still  out  of  one  year  into  another. 
She  shines  alike  upon  the  good  and  the  evil,  nor  does 
she  notice  the  wants  and  yearnings  of  the  new  year. 
Solitary,  forsaken,  hundreds  of  miles  from  all  that  one 
holds  dear ;  but  the  thoughts  flit  restlessly  to  and  fro  on 
their  silent  paths.  Once  more  a  leaf  is  turned  in  the 
book  of  eternity,  a  new  blank  page  is  opened,  and  no  one 
knows  what  will  be  written  on  it." 


CHAPTER   VIII 
THE    NEW    YEAR,    1896 

"  Wednesday,  January  i,  1896.  —41.5°  C.  (42.2°  below 
zero,  Fahr.).  So  a  new  year  has  come,  the  year  of  joy 
and  home-coming.  In  bright  moonhght  1895  departed, 
and  in  bright  moonlight  1896  begins;  but  it  is  bitterly 
cold,  the  coldest  days  we  have  yet  known  here.  I  felt  it, 
too,  yesterday,  when  all  my  finger-tips  were  frost-bitten. 
I  thought  I  had  done  with  all  that  last  spring. 

"  Friday,  January  3d.  Morning.  It  is  still  clear  and 
cold  out-of-doors ;  I  can  hear  reports  from  the  glacier. 
It  lies  up  there  on  the  crest  of  the  mountain  like  a 
mighty  ice-giant  peering  down  at  us  through  the  clefts. 
It  spreads  its  giant  body  all  over  the  land,  and  stretches 
out  its  limbs  on  all  sides  into  the  sea.  But  whenever  it 
turns  cold — colder  than  it  has  hitherto  been — it  writhes 
horribly,  and  crevice  after  crevice  appears  in  the  huge 
body ;  there  is  a  noise  like  the  discharge  of  guns,  and  the 
sky  and  the  earth  tremble  so  that  I  can  feel  the  ground 
that  I  am  lying  on  quake.  One  is  almost  afraid  that  it 
will  some  day  come  rolling  over  upon  one.* 

*  These  rumblings  in  the  glacier  are  due  to  rifts  which  are  formed  in 
the  mass  of  ice  when  the  cold  causes  it  to  contract.     New  rifts  seemed 


THE   NEW   YEAR,  i8g6  455 

"  Johansen  is  asleep,  and  making  the  hut  resound.  I 
am  glad  his  mother  cannot  see  him  now.  She  would 
certainly  pity  her  boy,  so  black  and  grimy  and  ragged 
as  he  is,  with  sooty  streaks  all  over  his  face.  But  wait, 
only  wait !  She  shall  have  him  again,  safe  and  sound 
and  fresh  and  rosy. 

"  Wednesday,  January  8th.  Last  night  the  wind  blew 
the  sledo^e  to  which  our  thermometer  was  hansfino;  out 
over  the  slope.  Stormy  weather  outside — furious  weath- 
er, almost  taking  away  your  breath  if  you  put  your 
head  out.  We  lie  here  trying  to  sleep — sleep  the  time 
away.  But  we  cannot  always  do  it.  Oh,  those  long 
sleepless  nights  when  you  turn  from  side  to  side,  kick 
your  feet  to  put  a  little  warmth  into  them,  and  wish  for 
only  one  thing  in  the  world — sleep !  The  thoughts  are 
constantly  busy  with  everything  at  home,  but  the  long, 
heavy  body  lies  here  trying  in  vain  to  find  an  endur- 
able position  among  the  rough  stones.  However,  time 
crawls  on,  and  now  little  Liv's  birthday  has  come. 
She  is  three  years  old  to-day,  and  must  be  a  big 
girl  now.  Poor  little  thing !  You  don't  miss  your  fa- 
ther now,  and  next  birthday  I  shall  be  with  you,  I 
hope.  What  good  friends  we  shall  be !  You  shall  ride 
a -cockhorse,  and  I  will  tell  you  stories  from  the  north 
about    bears,  foxes,    walruses,   and    all  the    strange    ani- 


to  be  formed  only  when  the  temperature  sank  lower  than  it  had  previ- 
ously been  in  the  course  of  that  winter ;  at  least,  it  was  only  then  that  we 
heard  the  rumblings. 


456 


FARTHEST   NORTH 


mals  up  there    in   the    ice.     No,   I   can't   bear   to   think 
of  it. 

"Saturday,  February  ist.  Here  I  am  down  with  the 
rheumatism.  Outside  it  is  growing  gradually  lighter 
day  by  day ;  the  sky  above  the  glaciers  in  the  south 
grows  redder,  until  at  last  one  day  the  sun  will  rise 
above    the    crest,   and    our    last    winter    night    be    past. 


LIFE    IN    OUR    HUT 


Spring  is  coming!  I  have  often  thought  spring  sad. 
Was  it  because  it  vanished  so  quickly,  because  it  carried 
promises  that  summer  never  fulfilled  ?  But  there  is  no 
sadness  in  this  spring;  its  promises  will  be  kept;  it 
would  be  too  cruel  if  they  were  not." 

It  was  a  strange  existence,  lying  thus  in  a  hut  under- 
ground  the   whole   winter  through,  without   a   thing   to 


THE   NEW   YEAR,  i8g6  457 

turn  one's  hand  to.  How  we  longed  for  a  book !  How 
delightful  our  life  on  board  the  Frani  appeared,  when  we 
had  the  whole  library  to  fall  back  upon !  We  would 
often  tell  each  other  how  beautiful  this  sort  of  life  would 
have  been,  after  all,  if  we  had  only  had  anything  to  read. 
Johansen  always  spoke  with  a  sigh  of  Heyse's  novels; 
he  had  specially  liked  those  on  board,  and  he  had  not 
been  able  to  finish  the  last  one  he  was  reading.  The 
little  readable  matter  which  was  to  be  found  in  our  nav- 
igation -  table  and  almanac  I  had  read  so  many  times 
already  that  I  knew  it  almost  by  heart  —  all  about  the 
Norwegian  royal  family,  all  about  persons  apparently 
drowned,  and  all  about  self-help  for  fishermen.  Yet  it 
was  always  a  comfort  to  see  these  books ;  the  sight  of 
the  printed  letters  gave  one  a  feeling  that  there  was,  after 
all,  a  little  bit  of  the  civilized  man  left.  All  that  we  really 
had  to  talk  about  had  long  ago  been  thoroughly  thrashed 
out,  and,  indeed,  there  were  not  many  thoughts  of  com- 
mon interest  that  we  had  not  exchanged.  The  chief 
pleasure  left  to  us  was  to  picture  to  each  other  how  we 
should  make  up  next  winter  at  home  for  everything  we 
had  missed  during  our  sojourn  here.  We  felt  that  we 
should  have  learned  for  good  and  all  to  set  store  by  all 
the  good  things  of  life,  such  as  food,  drink,  clothes, 
shoes,  house,  home,  good  neighbors,  and  all  the  rest  of  it. 
Frequently  we  occupied  ourselves,  too,  in  calculating  how 
far  the  Fram  could  have  drifted,  and  whether  there  was 
any  possibility  of  her  getting  home  to  Norway  before  us. 


458  FARTHEST  NORTH 

It  seemed  a  safe  assumption  that  she  might  drift  out  into 
the  sea  between  Spitzbergen  and  Greenland  next  sum- 
mer or  autumn,  and  probabiUty  seemed  to  point  to  her 
being  in  Norway  in  August  or  September.  But  there 
was  just  the  possibility  that  she  might  arrive  earlier  in 
the  summer ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  zve  might  not  reach 
home  until  later  in  the  autumn.  This  was  the  great 
question  to  which  we  could  give  no  certain  answer,  and 
we  reflected  with  sorrow  that  she  might  perhaps  get 
home  first.  What  would  our  friends  then  think  about 
us  1  Scarcely  any  one  would  have  the  least  hope  of  see- 
insf  us  again,  not  even  our  comrades  on  board  the  Fram. 
It  seemed  to  us,  however,  that  this  could  scarcely  happen  ; 
we  could  not  but  reach  home  in  July,  and  it  was  hardly 
to  be  expected  that  the  Fram  could  be  free  from  the  ice 
so  early  in  the  summer. 

But  where  were  we }  And  how  great  was  the 
distance  we  had  to  travel  ?  Over  and  over  again  I 
reckoned  out  our  observations  of  the  autumn  and 
summer  and  spring,  but  the  whole  matter  was  a  per- 
petual puzzle.  It  seemed  clear,  indeed,  that  we  must  be 
lying  somewhere  far  to  the  west,  perhaps  off  the  west 
coast  of  Franz  Josef  Land,  a  little  north  of  Cape 
Lofley,  as  I  had  conjectured  in  the  autumn.  But,  if 
that  were  so,  what  could  the  lands  be  which  we  had  seen 
to  the  northward  ?  And  what  was  the  land  to  which  we 
had  first  come  ?  From  the  first  group  of  islands,  which 
I  had  called  White  Land  (Hvidtenland),  to  where  we  now 


THE  NEW   YEAR,  i8g6  459 

lie,  we  had  passed  about  f  of  longitude — that  our  obser- 
vations proved  conclusively.  But  if  we  were  now  in  the 
longitude  of  Cape  Fligely  these  islands  must  lie  on  a 
meridian  so  far  east  that  it  would  fall  between  King 
Oscar's  Land  and  Crown  Prince  Rudolf  Land  ;  and  yet 
we  had  been  much  farther  east  and  had  seen  nothing 
of  these  lands.  How  was  this  to  be  explained  }  And, 
furthermore,  the  land  we  saw  had  disappeared  to  the 
southward  ;  and  we  saw  no  indication  of  islands  farther 
east.  No,  we  could  not  have  been  near  any  known  land ; 
we  must  be  upon  some  island  lying  farther  west,  in  the 
strait  between  Franz  Josef  Land  and  Spitzbergen  ;  and 
we  could  not  but  think  of  the  hitherto  so  enigmatic 
Gillies  Land.  But  this,  too,  seemed  difficult  to  explain  ; 
for  it  was  hard  to  understand  how,  in  this  comparatively 
narrow  strait,  such  an  extensive  mass  of  land  as  this 
could  find  room  without  coming  so  near  the  Northeast 
Land  of  Spitzbergen  that  it  could  easily  be  seen  from  it. 
No  other  conclusion,  however  seemed  at  all  plausible. 
We  had  long  ago  given  up  the  idea  that  our  watches 
could  be  even  approximately  right ;  for  in  that  case,  as 
already  mentioned,  we  must  have  come  right  across  Payer's 
Wilczek  Land  and  Dove  Glacier  without  having  noticed 
them.  This  theory  was  consequently  excluded.  There 
were  other  things,  too,  that  greatly  puzzled  me.  If  we 
were  on  a  new  land,  near  Spitzbergen,  why  were  the 
rosy  gulls  never  seen  there,  while  we  had  found  them  in 
flocks  here  to  the  north  t     And  then  there  was  the  great 


460  FAR  THE  S  2'  NORTH 

variation  of  the  compass.  Unfortunately,  I  had  no  chart 
of  the  variations  with  me,  and  I  could  not  remember 
where  the  zero  meridian  of  variation  lay — the  boundary- 
line  between  easterly  and  westerly  variation.  I  thought, 
however,  that  it  lay  somewhere  near  the  Northeast 
Land  ;  and  here  we  had  still  a  variation  of  about  20°. 
The  whole  thing  was,  and  remained,  an  insoluble  riddle. 
As  the  daylight  began  to  lengthen  later  in  the  spring, 
I  made  a  discovery  which  had  the  effect  of  still  more 
hopelessly  bewildering  us.  At  two  points  on  the  horizon, 
about  W.S.W.,  I  fancied  that  I  could  see  land  looming 
in  the  air.  The  appearance  recurred  again  and  again, 
and  at  last  I  was  quite  certain  that  it  really  was  land ;  but 
it  must  be  very  far  away — at  least  69  miles,  I  thought.* 
If  it  had  been  difficult  to  find  room  between  Franz 
Josef  Land  and  Northeast  Land  for  the  islands  we 
had  hitherto  seen,  it  was  more  difficult  still  to  find  room 
for  these  new  ones.  Could  it  be  the  Northeast  Land 
itself.'^  This  seemed  scarcely  credible.  This  land  must 
lie  in  about  81°  or  so  northward,  while  the  Northeast 
Land  does  not  reach  much  north  of  80°.  But  at  least 
these  islands  must  be  pretty  near  Northeast  Land,  and 
if  we  once  reached  them,  we  could  not  have  much 
farther  to  go,  and  would  perhaps  find  open  water  all  the 
way  to  the  Tromso  sloop,  on  which  our  fancy  had  now 
dw^elt  for  over  a  year,  and  which  was  to  take  us  home. 

*  It  proved  afterwards  that  the  distance  was  about  56  miles. 


THE   NEW   YEAR,  i8g6  461 

The  thought  of  all  the  good  things  we  should  find  on 
board  that  sloop  was  what  comforted  us  whenever  the 
time  hung  unendurably  heavy  on  our  hands.  Our  life 
was  not,  indeed,  altogether  luxurious.  How  we  longed 
for  a  change  in  the  uniformity  of  our  diet !  If  only  we 
could  have  had  a  little  sugar  and  farinaceous  food,  in 
addition  to  all  the  excellent  meat  we  had,  we  could  have 
lived  like  princes.  Our  thoughts  dwelt  longingly  on 
great  platters  full  of  cakes,  not  to  mention  bread  and 
potatoes.  How  we  would  make  up  for  lost  time  when 
we  got  back  !  And  we  would  begin  as  soon  as  we  got 
on  board  that  Tromso  sloop.  Would  they  have  pota- 
toes on  board  ?  Would  thev  have  fresh  bread }  At 
worst,  even  hard  ship's  bread  would  not  be  so  bad, 
especially  if  we  could  get  it  fried  in  sugar  and  butter. 
But  better  even  than  food  would  be  the  clean  clothes 
we  could  put  on.  And  then  books — only  to  think  of 
books!  Ugh,  the  clothes  we  lived  in  were  horrible! 
and  when  we  wanted  to  enjoy  a  really  delightful  hour 
we  would  set  to  work  imagining  a  great,  bright,  clean 
shop,  where  the  walls  were  hung  with  nothing  but  new, 
clean,  soft  woollen  clothes,  from  which  we  could  pick 
out  everything  we  wanted.  Only  to  think  of  shirts, 
vests,  drawers,  soft  and  warm  w^oollen  trousers,  delicious- 
ly  comfortable  jerseys,  and  then  clean  woollen  stockings 
and  warm  felt  slippers — could  anything  more  delightful 
be  imagined.-^  And  then  a  Turkish  bath!  We  would 
sit   up  side  by  side  in  our  sleeping-bag  for  hours   at   a 


4^2  FARTHEST  NORTH 

time  and  talk  of  all  these  things.  They  seemed  almost 
unimaginable.  Fancy  being  able  to  throw  away  all  the 
heavy,  oily  rags  we  had  to  live  in,  glued  as  they  were  to 
our  bodies !  Our  le2;s  suffered  most ;  for  there  our 
trousers  stuck  fast  to  our  knees,  so  that  when  w^e  moved 
they  abraded  and  tore  the  skin  inside  our  thighs  till  it 
was  all  raw  and  bleeding.  I  had  the  greatest  difficulty 
in  keeping  these  sores  from  becoming  altogether  too 
ingrained  with  fat  and  dirt,  and  had  to  be  perpetually 
washing  them  with  moss,  or  a  rag  from  one  of  the 
bandaa^es  in  our  medicine-bas^,  and  a  little  water,  which 
I  warmed  in  a  cup  over  the  lamp.  I  have  never 
before  understood  what  a  magnificent  invention  soap 
really  is.  We  made  all  sorts  of  attempts  to  wash  the 
worst  of  the  dirt  away ;  but  they  were  all  equally  un- 
successful. Water  had  no  effect  upon  all  this  grease ; 
it  was  better  to  scour  one's  self  with  moss  and  sand.  We 
could  find  plenty  of  sand  in  the  walls  of  the  hut,  when 
we  hacked  the  ice  off  them.  The  best  method,  how- 
ever, was  to  get  our  hands  thoroughly  lubricated  with 
warm  bear's  blood  and  train-oil,  and  then  scrub  it  off 
again  with  moss.  They  thus  became  as  white  and  soft 
as  the  hands  of  the  most  delicate  lady,  and  we  could 
scarcely  believe  that  they  belonged  to  our  own  bodies. 
When  there  was  none  of  this  toilet  preparation  to  be 
had,  we  found  the  next  best  plan  was  to  scrape  our  skin 
with  a  knife. 

If  it  was  difficult  to  get  our  own  bodies  clean,  it  was 


THE   NEW  YEAR,  i8g6  463 

a  sheer  impossibility  as  regards  our  clothes.  We  tried 
all  possible  ways;  we  washed  them  both  in  Eskimo 
fashion  and  in  our  own  ;  but  neither  was  of  much  avail. 
We  boiled  our  shirts  in  the  pot  hour  after  hour,  but  took 
them  out  only  to  find  them  just  as  full  of  grease  as 
when  we  put  them  in.  Then  we  took  to  w^ringing  the 
train-oil  out  of  them.  This  was  a  little  better;  but  the 
only  thing  that  produced  any  real  effect  was  to  boil  them, 
and  then  scrape  them  with  a  knife  while  they  were  still 
warm.  By  holding  them  in  our  teeth  and  our  left  hand 
and  stretching  them  out,  while  we  scraped  them  all 
over  with  the  right  hand,  we  managed  to  get  amazing 
quantities  of  fat  out  of  them  ;  and  we  could  almost  have 
believed  that  they  were  quite  clean  when  we  put  them 
on  again  after  they  were  dry.  The  fat  which  we  scraped 
off  was,  of  course,  a  welcome  addition  to  our  fuel. 

In  the  meanwhile  our  hair  and  beard  grew  entirely 
wild.  It  is  true  we  had  scissors  and  could  have  cut  them  ; 
but  as  our  supply  of  clothes  was  by  no  means  too  lavish, 
we  thought  it  kept  us  a  little  warmer  to  have  all  this  hair, 
which  began  to  flow  down  over  our  shoulders.  But  it 
was  coal-black  like  our  faces,  and  we  thought  our  teeth 
and  the  whites  of  our  eyes  shone  with  an  uncanny  white- 
ness, now  that  we  could  see  each  other  again  in  the  day- 
light of  the  spring.  On  the  whole,  however,  we  were 
so  accustomed  to  each  other's  appearance  that  we  really 
found  nothing  remarkable  about  it;  and  not  until  we  fell 
in  with  other  people  and  found  that  they  were  precisely 


464  FARTHEST  NORTH 

of  that  opinion  did  we  begin  to  recognize  that  our  outer 
man  was,  perhaps,  open  to  criticism. 

It  was  a  strange  life,  and  in  many  ways  it  put  our  pa- 
tience to  a  severe  test ;  but  it  was  not  so  unendurable 
as  one  might  suppose.  We  at  any  rate  thought  that,  all 
things  considered,  we  were  fairly  well  off.  Our  spirits 
were  good  the  whole  time ;  we  looked  serenely  towards 
the  future,  and  rejoiced  in  the  thought  of  all  the  delights 
it  had  in  store  for  us.  We  did  not  even  have  recourse  to 
quarrelling  to  while  away  the  time.  After  our  return, 
Johansen  was  once  asked  how  we  two  had  got  on  during 
the  winter,  and  whether  we  had  managed  not  to  fall  out 
with  each  other ;  for  it  is  said  to  be  a  severe  test  for  two 
men  to  live  so  long  together  in  perfect  isolation.  "  Oh 
no,"  he  answered,  "we  didn't  quarrel;  the  only  thing  was 
that  I  had  the  bad  habit  of  snoring  in  my  sleep,  and 
then  Nansen  used  to  kick  me  in  the  back."  I  cannot 
deny  that  this  is  the  case ;  I  gave  him  many  a  well- 
meant  kick,  but  fortunately  he  only  shook  himself  a 
little  and  slept  calmly  on. 

Thus  did  our  time  pass.  We  did  our  best  to  sleep 
away  as  much  as  possible  of  it.  We  carried  this  art  to  a 
high  pitch  of  perfection,  and  could  sometimes  put  in  as 
much  as  20  hours'  sleep  in  the  24.  If  any  one  still  holds 
to  the  old  superstition  that  scurvy  is  due  to  lack  of  ex- 
ercise, he  may  look  upon  us  as  living  evidences  to  the 
contrary  ;  for  all  the  time  our  health  was  excellent.  As 
the  light  now  began  to  return  with  the  spring,  however, 


THE   AmW   YEAR,  i8p6  465 

we  were  more  inclined  to  go  out.  Besides,  it  was  not 
always  so  cold  now,  and  we  had  to  restrict  our  sleep  a 
little.  Then,  too,  the  time  for  our  departure  was  ap- 
proaching, and  we  had  plenty  to  occupy  us  in  the  way 
of  preparation  and  so  forth. 

"  Tuesday,  February  25th.  Lovely  weather  to  be  out 
in  to-day;  it  is  as  though  spring  were  beginning.  We 
have  seen  the  first  birds — first  a  fiock  of  half  a  score  of 
little  auks  {Mergulus  alle),  then  a  flock  of  four;  they 
came  from  the  south  along  the  land,  evidently  through 
the  sound  in  the  southeast,  and  disappeared  behind  the 
mountain  crest  to  the  northwest  of  us.  Once  more  we 
heard  their  cheerful  twittering,  and  it  roused  a  respon- 
sive echo  in  the  soul.  A  little  later  we  heard  it  again, 
and  then  it  seemed  as  if  they  were  perched  on  the 
mountain  above  us.  It  was  the  first  greeting  from  life. 
Blessed  birds,  how  welcome  you  are  ! 

"  It  was  quite  like  a  spring  evening  at  home;  the  sun's 
red  glow  faded  little  by  little  into  golden  clouds,  and  the 
moon  rose.  I  went  up  and  dowm  outside,  and  dreamt  I 
was  in  Norway  on  a  spring  evening. 

"  Wednesday,  February  26th.  To-day  we  ought  to 
have  had  the  sun  again,  but  the  sky  was  cloudy. 

"  Friday,  February  28th.     I  have  discovered  that  it  is 

possible  to  get  1 2  threads  out  of  a  bit  of  twine,  and  am  as 

happy  as  a  king.     We  have  thread  enough  now,  and  our 

wind  clothes  shall  be  whole  once  more.     It  is  possible,  too, 

to  ravel  out  the  canvas  in  the  bags,  and  use  it  for  thread. 
II. -30 


466  FARTHEST  NORTH 

"  Saturday,  February  29th.  The  sun  high  above  the 
glacier  to-day.  We  must  begin  to  economize  in  train-oil 
in  earnest  now  if  we  are  to  get  away  from  here,  or  there 
will  be  too  little  blubber  for  the  journey. 

"  Wednesday,  March  4th.  When  Johansen  went  out 
this  morning  the  mountain  above  us  was  covered  with 
little  auks,  which  flew  twittering  from  crest  to  crest,  and 
sat  all  over  the  glacier.  When  we  went  out  again  later 
on  they  were  gone. 

"  Friday,  March  6th.  We  are  faring  badly  now.  We 
have  to  sleep  in  the  dark  to  save  oil,  and  can  only  cook 
once  a  day. 

"Sunday,  March  8th.  Shot  a  bear.  Johansen  saw 
ten  flocks  of  litde  auks  flying  up  the  sound  this 
morning. 

"Tuesday,  March  roth.  That  bear  the  day  before 
yesterday  came  in  the  nick  of  time,  and  an  amusing 
fellow  he  was,  too.  We  were  very  badly  off  both  for 
blubber  and  meat,  but  most  for  blubber,  and  we  were 
longing  for  a  bear;  we  thought  it  must  be  about  time 
for  them  to  come  again  now.  I  had  just  spent  Sunday 
morning  in  mending  my  wind  trousers  and  patching  my 
'komager,'  so  as  to  be  all  ready  if  a  bear  should  come. 
Johansen,  whose  cooking  week  it  was,  had  been  sewing 
a  little  too,  and  was  just  cleaning  up  the  hut  for  Sunday 
and  taking  out  some  bone  and  meat — he  had  taken  it  as 
far  as  the  passage.  But  no  sooner  had  he  raised  the 
skin  over  the  opening  out  there  than  I  heard  him  come 


THE   NEW   YEAR,  i8g6  4^7 

tumbling  head  foremost  in  again  over  the  bone  heap  and 
say,  '  There's  a  bear  standing  just  outside  the  door.'  He 
snatched  his  gun  down  from  where  it  hung  under  the 
roof  and  again  put  his  head  into  the  passage,  but  drew 
it  quickly  back,  saying,  '  He  is  standing  close  by,  and 
must  be  thinking  about  coming  in.'  He  managed  to 
draw  aside  a  corner  of  the  door-skin,  just  enough  to  give 
him  elbow-room  to  shoot ;  but  it  was  not  altogether  easy. 
The  passage  was  narrow  enough  before,  and  now,  in 
addition,  it  was  full  of  all  the  backbones  and  scraps  of 
meat.  I  saw  him  once  lift  the  gun  to  his  shoulder 
as  he  lay  crouched  together,  but  take  it  dow^i  again ; 
he  had  forgotten  to  cock  it,  and  the  bear  had  moved 
a  little  away,  so  that  he  only  saw  its  muzzle  and  paws. 
But  now  it  began  scraping  dow^n  in  the  passage  with 
one  paw,  as  if  it  wanted  to  come  in,  and  Johansen 
thought  he  must  fire,  even  if  he  could  not  see.  He  put 
out  his  gun,  pointing  the  barrel  at  the  upper  edge  of  the 
opening;  he  thought  the  shot  must  go  right  into  the 
bear's  breast,  and  so  he  fired.  I  heard  a  dull  growl 
and  the  crunching  of  the  snow  under  heavy  footsteps, 
which  went  up  towards  the  talus.  Johansen  loaded 
again,  and  put  his  head  out  at  the  opening.  He  said 
he  saw  it  going  up  there,  and  that  it  didn't  seem  up  to 
much,  and  forthwith  he  rushed  after  it.  I,  meanwhile, 
was  lying  head  foremost  in  the  bag,  hunting  for  a  sock 
which  I  co2i/d  not  find.  At  last,  after  a  long  search,  I 
found  it — on  the  floor,  of  course.     Then  I,  too,  was  ready; 


468 


FARTIfEST  NORTH 


and  well  equipped  with  gun,  cartridges,  knife,  and  file 
(to  sharpen  the  seal-knife),  I  followed.  I  had  my  wind 
trousers  on,  too ;  they  had  been  hanging  unused  all 
through  the  winter's  cold,  for  want  of  thread  to  mend 
them  with,  but  now,  when  the  temperature  was  only  —  2°C. 
(284°  Fahr.),  they  of  course  had  to  come  out.  I  followed 
the    tracks;    they  went  westward    and   northward   along 


"JOHANSEN    FIRED    THROUGH    THE    OPENING 


the  shore.  After  a  little  while  I  at  last  met  Johansen, 
who  said  that  the  bear  lay  farther  on  ;  he  had  at  last  got 
up  to  it,  and  finished  it  with  a  shot  in  the  back.  While 
he  returned  to  fetch  the  sledges  I  went  on  to  begin 
skinning.     It  was  not  to  be  done  quite  so  quickly,  how- 


THE    NEW   YEAR,  i8g6  469 

ever.  As  I  approached  the  place  where  I  thought  it  must 
be  lying,  I  caught  sight  of  the  '  dead  bear '  far  ahead, 
trotting  pretty  briskly  along  the  shore.  Now  and  then 
it  stopped  to  look  round  at  me.  I  ran  out  on  to  the  ice, 
to  get  outside  it,  if  possible,  and  drive  it  back,  so  that 
we  should  not  have  so  far  to  drag  it.  When  I  had  kept 
on  at  this  for  some  time,  and  was  about  on  a  level  with 
it,  it  began  clambering  up  the  glacier  and  under  some 
rao^o-ed  rock.  I  had  not  reckoned  on  a  '  dead  bear ' 
being  able  to  do  this,  and  the  only  thing  was  to  stop  it 
as  soon  as  possible;  but  just  as  I  got  within  range  it 
disappeared  over  the  crest.  Soon  I  saw  it  again,  a  good 
deal  higher  up,  and  far  out  of  range.  It  was  craning  its 
neck  to  see  if  I  were  following.  I  went  up  some  way 
after  it,  but  as  it  went  on  alono;  the  mountain  more 
quickly  than  I  could  follow  it  in  the  deep  snow,  under 
which,  moreover,  there  were  crevices  into  which  I  kept 
falling"  up  to  my  waist,  I  preferred  to  clamber  down  on 
to  the  fjord-ice  again.  In  a  little  while  the  bear  emerged 
from  beneath  a  perpendicular  cliff  with  a  precipitous 
bit  of  talus  beneath  it.  Here  it  began  to  crawl  care- 
fully along  at  the  very  top  of  the  talus.  1  was  now 
afraid  of  its  lying  down  in  a  place  like  this,  where  we 
could  not  oet  at  it,  and  even  thouorh  the  rano;e  was  lonsj 
I  felt  I  must  fire  and  see  if  I  could  not  make  it  fall  over. 
It  did  not  look  as  if  it  had  too  firm  a  footing  up  there. 
It  was  blowing  like  anything  here  under  the  cliff,  and  I 
saw  that  the  bear  had  to  lie  flat  down  and  hold  on  with 


470  FARTHEST  NORTH 

its  claws  when  the  worst  gusts  came,  and  then,  too,  it 
had  only  three  paws  to  hold  on  with;  the  right  fore-leg 
had  been  broken.  I  went  up  to  a  big  stone  at  the  lower 
edge  of  the  talus,  took  good  aim,  and  fired.  I  saw  the 
bullet  strike  the  snow  just  beneath  it,  but,  whether  it  was 
hit  or  not,  it  started  up  and  tried  to  jump  over  a  drift, 
but  slipped,  and  rolled  over.  It  tried  several  times  to 
stop  itself,  but  went  on,  until  at  last  it  found  its  feet  and 
began  to  crawl  slowly  up  again.  Meanwhile  I  had  loaded 
a2fain,  and  the  rano;e  was  now  shorter.  I  fired  once  more. 
It  stood  still  a  moment,  then  slipped  farther  and  farther 
down  the  drift,  at  first  slowly,  then  quicker  and  quicker 
rolling  over  and  over.  I  thought  it  was  coming  straight 
towards  me,  but  comforted  myself  with  the  thought  that 
the  stone  I  was  standing  behind  was  a  good  solid  one. 
I  squatted  down  and  quickly  put  a  fresh  cartridge  into 
my  gun.  The  bear  had  now  arrived  at  the  talus  below 
the  drift ;  it  came  tearing  down,  together  with  stones  and 
lumps  of  snow,  in  a  series  of  leaps,  each  longer  than 
the  last.  It  was  a  strange  sight,  this  great  white  body 
flying  through  the  air,  and  turning  somersault  after  som- 
ersault, as  if  it  had  been  a  piece  of  wood.  At  last  it  took 
one  tremendous  leap,  and  landed  against  an  enormous 
stone.  There  was  a  regular  crash,  and  there  it  lay  close 
beside  me ;  a  few  spasms  passed  through  it,  and  all  was 
over.  It  was  an  uncommonly  large  he  -  bear,  with  a 
beautiful  thick  fur,  which  one  might  well  wish  to  have 
at  home ;  but  the  best  thing  of  all  was  that  it  was  very 


THE    NEW   YEAR,  i8g6  471 

fat.  It  was  so  windy  that  the  gusts  were  apt  to  blow 
you  over  if  you  were  not  prepared  for  them  ;  but  with 
the  air  so  mild  as  it  was,  wind  did  not  matter  much;  it 
would  not  have  been  such  bad  work  to  skin  it  had  it  not 
been  that  it  was  lying  in  a  hollow  and  was  so  big  that 
one  man  could  not  stir  it.  After  a  time,  however,  Johan- 
sen  came,  and  at  last  we  had  got  it  dismembered,  and  had 
dragged  it  down  to  the  ice  and  piled  it  on  the  sledge. 
We  had  not  gone  far,  however,  before  we  found  that  it 
would  be  too  heavy  for  us  to  draw  all  at  once  against 
this  wind  and  for  such  a  distance.  We  laid  half  of  it  in 
a  heap  on  the  ice  and  spread  the  skin  over  it,  intending 
to  fetch  it  in  a  day  or  two ;  and  even  then  we  had  diffi- 
culty  enough  in  fighting  on  against  the  wind  in  the  dark, 
so  that  it  was  late  at  night  before  we  got  home.  But  it 
was  long  since  we  had  so  much  enjoyed  our  home-coming 
and  being  able  to  lie  down  in  our  bag  and  sup  off  fresh 
meat  and  hot  soup." 

We  lived  on  that  bear  for  six  weeks. 

"  When  Johansen  was  out  this  morning  at  six,  he 
thought  he  saw  little  auks  in  millions  flying  up  the 
sound.  When  we  went  out  at  two  in  the  afternoon 
there  was  an  unceasing  passage  of  flock  after  flock  out  to 
sea,  and  this  continued  until  late  in  the  afternoon.  I  saw 
two  guillemots  {Uria  gryllc),  too,  fly  over  our  heads. 
They  are  the  first  we  have  seen.* 

*  We  had  now,  as  the  spring  advanced,  a  good  opportunity  of  seeing 
how  the  Httle  aiik  in  great  flocks  and  the  black  guillemots  in  smaller  num- 


472  FARTHEST  NORTH 

"  Wednesday,  March  25th.  There  is  the  same  dark 
water-sky  behind  the  promontory  in  the  southwest,  stretch- 
ing thence  westward  almost  to  the  extreme  west.  It  has 
been  there  all  through  this  mild  weather,  with  southwest- 
erly wind,  from  the  very  beginning  of  the  month.  There 
seems  to  be  always  open  water  there,  for  no  sooner  is 
the  sky  overcast  than  the  reflection  of  water  appears  in 
that  quarter. 

"  Thursday,  April  2d.  As  I  awoke  at  about  eight  this 
evening  (our  morning  happened  to  fall  in  the  evening 
to-day),  we  heard  an  animal  rustling  about  outside 
and  gnawing  at  something.  We  did  not  take  much 
notice  of  it,  thinking  it  was  a  fox,  busy  as  usual  with 
some  meat  up  on  the  roof ;  and  if  it  did  seem  to  be 
making  rather  more  noise  than  we  had  of  late  been  ac- 
customed to  hear  from  foxes,  yet  it  was  scarcely  noise 
enough  to  come  from  a  bear.  We  did  not  take  into 
consideration  that  the  snow  was  not  so  cold  and  crack- 
ling now  as  it  had  been  earlier  in  the  winter.  When 
Johansen  went  out  to  read  the  thermometer,  he  saw 
that  it  was  a  bear  that  had  been  there.  It  had  gone 
round  the  hut,  but  had  evidently  not  liked  all  the  bears' 
carcasses,  and  had  not  ventured  past  them  up  to  the  wal- 
rus blubber  on  the  roof.  At  the  opening  of  the  passage 
and  the  chimney  it  had  sniffed  hard,  doubtless  enjoying 

bers,  invariably  set  forth  from  land  at  certain  times  of  the  day  towards  the 
open  sea,  and  then  at  other  times  returned  in  unbroken  lines  up  the  ice- 
bound fjords  to  their  nest-rocks  again. 


THE    NEW   YEAR,   i8g6  473 

the  delicious  scent  of  burnt  blubber  and  live  human 
flesh.  Then  it  had  dragged  a  walrus  hide  that  was 
lying  outside  a  little  way  off  and  scraped  the  blubber 
off  it.  It  had  come  from  the  ice  obliquely  up  the  hill 
following  the  scent,  had  then  followed  our  footsteps 
from  the  hut  to  the  place  where  we  get  salt-water,  and 
had  thence  orone  farther  out  over  the  ice  until  it  had  sot 
scent  of  the  walrus  carcasses  out  there,  and  was  o-oine 
tow^ards  them  when  Johansen  caught  sight  of  it.  There 
it  set  to  work  to  gnaw.  As  my  gun  was  not  fit  to 
use  at  the  moment,  I  took  Johansen  s  and  went  alone. 
The  bear  was  so  busy  gnawing  and  tearing  pieces  off 
the  carcass  that  I  could  get  close  up  to  it  from  behind 
without  troubling  about  cover.  Wishing  to  try  how 
near  I  could  get,  I  went  on,  and  it  was  not  until  I 
was  so  near  that  I  could  almost  touch  it  with  the  muz- 
zle of  my  gun  that  it  heard  my  steps,  so  busy  had  it 
been.  It  started  round,  gazed  defiantly  and  astonished 
at  me,  and  I  saluted  it  with  a  charge  right  in  its  face. 
It  threw  up  its  head,  sneezed,  and  blew  blood  out  over 
the  snow  as  it  turned  round  again  and  galloped  away. 
I  was  going  to  load  again,  but  the  cartridge  jammed, 
and  it  was  only  by  using  my  knife  that  I  got  it  out. 
While  I  was  doing  this  the  bear  had  bethought  him- 
self, stopped,  turned  towards  me,  and  snorted  angrily, 
as  he  made  up  his  mind  to  set  upon  me.  He  then 
went  up  on  to  a  piece  of  ice  close  by,  placed  himself  in 
an  attitude  of  defence,  and  stretched  out  his  neck  tow- 


474  FARTHEST  NORTH 

ards  me,  while  the  blood  poured  from  his  mouth  and 
nostrils.  The  ball  had  gone  right  through  his  head, 
but  without  touching  the  brain.  At  last  I  had  put 
another  cartridge  in,  but  had  to  give  him  five  shots 
before  I  finally  killed  him.  At  each  shot  he  fell,  but 
got  up  again.  I  was  not  accustomed  to  the  sights  on 
Johansen's  gun,  and  shot  rather  too  high  with  it.  At 
last  I  grew  angry,  rushed  up  to  him,  and  finished  him 
off." 

We  were  beginning  to  be  well  supplied  with  blubber 
and  meat  for  the  journey  south,  and  were  now  busy 
fitting  ourselves  out.  And  there  was  a  great  deal  to 
be  done.  We  had  to  begin  to  make  ourselves  new 
clothes  out  of  our  blankets ;  our  wind  clothes  had  to 
be  patched  and  mended ;  our  "  komager "  had  to  be 
soled,  and  we  had  to  make  socks  and  gloves  out  of 
bearskin.  Then  we  had  to  make  a  light,  good  sleeping- 
bag  of  bearskin.  All  this  would  take  time ;  and  from 
this  time  we  worked  industriously  at  our  needle  from 
early  morning  till  late  at  night.  Our  hut  was  suddenly 
transformed  into  a  busy  tailor's  and  shoemaker's  work- 
room, where  we  sat  side  by  side  in  the  sleeping-bag 
upon  the  stone  bed,  and  sewed  and  sewed  and  thought 
about  the  home-coming.  We  got  thread  by  unravel- 
ling the  cotton  canvas  of  some  provision  bags.  It  need 
hardly  be  said  that  we  were  always  talking  about  the 
prospects  for  our  journey,  and  we  found  great  comfort  in 
the  persistence  of  the  dark  sky  in  the  southwest,  which 


THE   NEW  YEAR,   T8g6  475 

indicated  much  open  water  in  that  direction.  I  conse- 
quently thought  we  should  have  good  use  for  our  kayaks 
on  the  journey  to  Spitzbergen,  I  mention  this  open 
water  several  tinies  in  my  journal.  For  instance,  on 
April  1 2th:  "Open  water  from  the  promontory  in  the 
southwest,  northward  as  far  as  we  can  see."  By  this  I 
mean,  of  course,  that  there  was  dark  air  over  the  whole 
horizon  in  this  direction,  showing  clearly  that  there 
was  open  water  there.  This  could  not  reall}^  surprise 
us ;  indeed,  we  ought  to  have  been  prepared  for  it,  since 
Payer  had  found  open  water  in  the  middle  of  April  at 
a  more  northerly  point  on  the  west  coast  of  Crown 
Prince  Rudolf  Land ;  and  this  had  been  continually  in 
my  thoughts  all  through  the  winter. 

Another  thing  which  made  us  believe  in  the  close 
vicinity  of  the  sea  was  that  we  were  daily  visited  by 
ivory-gulls  and  fulmars  [Procellaria  glacialis),  sometimes 
skuas  also.  We  saw  the  first  ivory -gulls  on  March 
1 2th;  throughout  April  they  became  more  and  more 
numerous,  and  soon  we  had  plenty,  both  of  them  and 
of  the  burgomasters  {Lams  glmicus),  sitting  on  our  roof 
and  round  the  hut,  and  drumming  and  pecking  at  the 
bones  and  remains  of  bears  they  found  there.  During 
the  winter  the  continual  o^nawinor  of  the  foxes  at  the 
meat  up  there  had  entertained  us,  and  reminded  us  that 
we  were  not  quite  forsaken  by  living  things ;  when  half 
asleep  we  could  often  imagine  that  we  were  in  our  beds 
at  home  and  heard  the  rats  and  mice  holding  their  rev- 


476  FARTHEST  NORTH 

els  in  the  attic  above  us.  With  the  coming  of  daylight 
the  foxes  vanished.  They  now  found  plenty  of  little 
auks  up  in  the  clefts  of  the  mountains,  and  had  no  longer 
to  depend  on  our  stone-hard  frozen  bear-meat.  But  now 
we  had  the  drumming  of  the  gulls  instead ;  but  they  did 
not  call  up  the  same  illusions,  and,  when  we  had  them 
on  the  roof  just  over  our  heads,  were  often  very  tiresome, 
and  even  disturbed  our  sleep,  so  that  we  had  to  knock 
on  the  roof  or  go  out  and  frighten  them  away,  which, 
however,  had  the  desired  effect  only  for  a  few  minutes. 

On  the  1 8th  of  April,  while  I  was  at  work  on  some 
solar-time  observations,  I  happened  to  look  up,  and  was 
surprised  to  see  a  bear  standing  just  opposite  to  me 
down  on  the  ice  by  the  shore.  It  must  have  been  stand- 
ing there  a  long  time,  wondering  what  I  was  about.  I 
ran  to  the  hut  for  a  gun,  but  when  I  returned  it  took  to 
its  heels,  and  I  was  not  eager  to  follow  it. 

"  Sunday,  April  19th.  I  was  awakened  at  7  o'clock 
this  morning  by  the  heavy  steps  of  a  bear  outside.  I 
wakened  Johansen,  who  struck  a  light,  and  I  got  on  my 
trousers  and  '  komager '  and  crept  out  with  loaded  gun. 
During  the  night  a  great  deal  of  snow  had,  as  usual, 
drifted  over  the  skin  that  covered  the  opening,  and  was 
diflftcult  to  break  through.  At  last,  by  kicking  with  all 
my  might  from  below,  I  managed  to  knock  the  snow  off, 
and  put  my  head  out  into  the  daylight,  which  was  quite 
dazzling  after  the  darkness  down  in  the  hut.  I  saw 
nothing,  but  knew  that  the  bear  must  be  standing  just 


THE    NEW   YEAR.  i8g6  477 

behind  the  hut.  Then  I  heard  a  snorting  and  blowinsr, 
and  off  went  the  brute  in  a  clumsy  bear's  gallop  up  the 
slope.  I  did  not  know  whether  to  shoot  or  not,  and,  to 
tell  the  truth,  I  had  little  inclination  for  bear-skinnine 
in  this  bitter  weather;  but  half  at  random  I  sent  a  shot 
after  it,  which  of  course  missed,  and  I  was  not  sorry.  I 
did  not  shoot  aijain ;  the  one  shot  was  enousfh  to  frighten 
it,  and  keep  it  from  coming  again  for  the  present;  we 
did  not  want  it,  if  only  it  would  leave  our  things  in  peace. 
At  the  cleft  to  the  north  it  looked  back,  and  then  went 
on.  As  usual  it  had  come  against  the  wind,  and  must 
have  scented  us  far  west  upon  the  ice.  It  had  made 
several  tacks  to  leeward  to  us,  had  been  at  the  entrance 
of  the  hut,  w'here  it  had  left  a  visiting-card,  and  had  then 
gone  straight  to  a  mound  at  the  back  of  us,  where  there 
is  some  walrus  blubber,  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  bears' 
carcasses.  These  had  no  terrors  for  it.  The  bearskin 
which  covered  it,  it  had  dragged  a  long  way,  but  fort- 
unately it  had  not  succeeded  in  getting  anything  eaten 
before  I  came. 

"  Sunday,  May  3d.  When  Johansen  came  in  this 
morning  he  said  he  had  seen  a  bear  out  on  the  ice;  it 
was  coming  in.  He  went  out  a  little  later  to  look  for  it, 
but  did  not  see  it ;  it  had  probably  gone  into  the  bay  to 
the  north.  We  expected  a  visit  from  it,  however,  as  the 
wind  was  that  way ;  and  as  we  sat  later  in  the  day,  sew- 
ing as  hard  as  we  could  sew,  we  heard  heavy  footsteps 
on  the  snow  outside.     They  stopped,  went  backward  and 


478  FARTHEST  NORTH 

forward  a  little,  and  then  something  was  drawn  along, 
and  all  was  quiet.  Johansen  crept  cautiously  out  with 
his  gun.  When  he  put  his  head  out  of  the  hole,  and  his 
eyes  had  recovered  from  the  first  dazzling  effects  of  the 
daylight,  he  saw  the  bear  standing  gnawing  at  a  bear- 
skin. A  bullet  through  the  head  killed  it  on  the  spot. 
It  was  a  lean  little  animal,  but  w-orth  taking,  inasmuch 
as  it  saved  us  the  trouble  of  thawing  up  carcasses  in  order 
to  cut  provisions  for  our  journey  off  them.  Frozen  stiff 
as  they  now  are,  we  cannot  cut  them  up  outside  in  the 
cold,  but  have  to  bring  them  into  the  hut  and  soften 
them  in  the  warmth  before  we  can  cut  anything  off  them, 
and  this  takes  time.  Two  bears  were  here  on  a  visit  last 
night,  but  they  turned  back  again  at  the  sledge,  which  is 
stuck  up  on  end  in  the  moraine  to  the  west  of  us,  to 
serve  as  a  stand  for  our  thermometer." 

As  we  were  breakfasting  on  May  9th  we  again  heard 
a  bear's  footstep  outside,  and  being  afraid  that  it  was 
going  to  eat  up  our  blubber,  we  had  no  other  resource 
than  to  shoot  it.  We  now  had  far  more  meat  than  we 
required,  and  did  not  care  to  use  more  cartridges  on 
these  animals  for  the  present ;  but  what  grieved  us  most 
was  the  thought  of  all  the  beautiful  bearskins  which  we 
should  leave  behind  us.  The  time  was  now  drawins^ 
near  when  we  should  break  up  our  camp,  and  we  worked 
eagerly  at  our  preparations.  Our  clothes  were  now 
ready.  The  entry  for  Tuesday,  May  12th,  runs  thus: 
"  Took  leave  to-day  of  my  old  trousers.     I  was  quite  sad 


THE   NEW  YEAR,  i8g6  479 

at  the  thought  of  the  good  service  they  had  done ;  but 
they  are  now  so  heavy  with  oil  and  dirt  that  they  must 
be  several  times  their  original  weight,  and,  if  they  were 
squeezed,  oil  would  ooze  out  of  them."  It  was  undenia- 
bly pleasant  to  put  on  the  new,  light,  soft  trousers  of 
blanket,  which  were,  to  some  extent,  free  from  grease. 
As,  however,  this  material  was  loose  in  texture,  I  was 
afraid  it  might  wear  out  before  we  reached  Spitzbergen, 
and  we  had  therefore  strengthened  it  both  inside  and 
outside  with  pieces  of  an  old  pair  of  drawers  and  of  a 
shirt  to  protect  it  from  wear. 

While  I  was  takino;  some  observations  outside  the  hut 
on  Saturday,  May  i6th,  I  saw  a  bear  with  quite  a  small 
young  one  out  on  the  ice.  I  had  just  taken  a  turn  out 
there,  and  they  were  examining  my  tracks.  The  mother 
went  first,  going  up  on  to  all  the  hummocks  I  had  been 
upon,  turning  round  and  snififing  and  looking  at  the 
tracks,  and  then  descending  again  and  going  on.  The 
tiny  young  one  trotted  along  behind,  exactly  repeating 
the  movements  of  its  mother.  At  last  they  grew  tired 
of  this,  and  turned  their  steps  towards  the  shore,  dis- 
appearing behind  the  promontory  to  the  north  of  us. 
Shortly  after  Johansen  came  out,  and  I  told  him  about 
it,  and  said :  "  I  expect  we  shall  soon  see  them  in  the 
cleft  up  there,  as  the  wind  is  that  way."  I  had  scarcely 
said  it,  when,  looking  across,  we  saw  them  both  stand- 
ing, stretching  their  necks,  sniffing,  and  looking  at  us 
and  the   hut.     We  did   not  want   to  shoot  them,  as  we 


48o  FARTHEST  NORTH 

had  abundance  of  food ;  but  we  thought  it  would  be 
amusing  to  go  nearer  and  watch  them,  and  then,  if 
possible,  frighten  them  sufficiently  to  keep  them  from 
visiting  us  in  the  night,  so  that  we  could  sleep  in  peace. 
When  we  approached,  the  mother  snorted  angrily,  turned 
several  times  as  if  to  go,  pushing  the  young  one  on  first, 
but  turned  back  again  to  observe  us  more  closely.  At 
last  they  jogged  slowly  off,  continually  hesitating  and 
looking  back.  When  they  got  down  to  the  shore,  they 
again  went  quite  slowly  among  the  hummocks,  and  I  ran 
after  them.  The  mother  went  first,  the  young  one  trotting 
after  exactly  in  her  footsteps.  I  was  soon  close  to  them, 
the  mother  saw  me,  started,  and  tried  to  get  the  young 
one  to  go  with  her;  but  I  now  discovered  that  it  could 
run  no  faster  than  I  could  follow  it.  As  soon  as  the 
mother  saw  this,  she  turned  round,  snorted,  and  came 
storming  right  at  me.  I  halted,  and  prepared  to  shoot 
in  case  she  should  come  too  near,  and  in  the  meantime 
the  little  one  tramped  on  as  fast  as  it  could.  The  moth- 
er halted  at  the  distance  of  a  few  paces  from  me,  snorted 
and  hissed  again,  looked  round  at  the  young  one,  and 
when  the  latter  had  got  a  good  way  on  trotted  after  it. 
I  ran  on  again  and  overtook  the  young  one,  and  again 
the  mother  went  through  the  same  manoeuvres ;  she 
seemed  to  have  the  greatest  possible  desire  to  strike  me 
to  the  earth,  but  then  the  young  one  had  again  got 
ahead  a  little,  and  she  did  not  wait  to  do  it,  but  trotted 
after.     This  was   repeated   several   times,  and   then  they 


THE   NEW   YEAR,  i8g6  481 

began  to  clamber  up  the  glacier,  the  mother  in  front,  the 
young  one  after.  But  the  latter  did  not  get  on  very 
fast;  it  trudged  along  as  well  as  it  could  in  its  mother's 
footprints  in  the  deep  snow.  It  reminded  me  exactly  of 
a  child  in  trousers,  as  it  clambered  up  and  kept  looking 
round,  half  frightened,  half  curious.  It  was  touching  to 
see  how  incessantly  the  mother  turned  round  to  hasten 
it  on,  now  and  then  jogging  it  with  her  head,  hissing 
and  snorting  all  the  while  at  me  standing  quietly  below 
and  looking  on.  When  they  reached  the  crest  the  moth- 
er stopped  and  hissed  worse  than  ever,  and  when  she 
had  let  the  young  one  pass  her,  they  both  disappeared 
over  the  glacier,  and  I  went  back  to  continue  my  work. 

For  the  last  few  weeks  a  feverish  activity  had  reigned 
in  our  hut.  We  had  become  more  and  more  impatient 
to  make  a  start ;  but  there  was  still  a  o-reat  deal  to  be 
done.  We  realized  in  bitter  earnest  that  we  had  no 
longer  the  Frarns  stores  to  fall  back  upon.  On  board 
the  Fram  there  might  be  one  or  two  things  lacking;  but 
here  we  lacked  practically  everything.  What  would  we 
not  have  oriven  even  for  a  single  box  of  dosf-biscuits — for 
ourselves — out  of  the  Frams  abundance }  Where  were 
we  to  find  all  that  we  needed  }  "  For  a  sledge  expedi- 
tion one  must  lay  in  light  and  nourishing  provisions, 
which  at  the  same  time  afford  as  much  variety  as  possi- 
ble ;  one  must  have  light  and  warm  clothing,  strong  and 
practical  sledges,"  etc.,  etc. — we  knew  by  heart  all  these 
maxims  of  the  Arctic  text-book.     The  journey  that  lay 

11.-31 


482  FARTHEST  NORTH 

before  us,  indeed,  was  not  a  very  great  One ;  the  thing 
was  simply  to  reach  Spitzbergen  and  get  on  board  the 
sloop ;  but  it  was  long  enough,  after  all,  to  make  it  neces- 
sary for  us  to  take  certain  measures  of  precaution. 

When  we  dug  up  the  stores  which  we  had  buried  at 
the  beginning  of  the  winter,  and  opened  the  bags,  we 
found  that  there  were  some  miserable  remains  of  a 
commissariat  which  had  once,  indeed,  been  good,  but 
was  now  for  the  most  part  mouldy  and  spoiled  by  the 
damp  of  the  previous  autumn.  Our  flour — our  precious 
flour — had  got  mildewed,  and  had  to  be  thrown  away. 
The  chocolate  had  been  dissolved  by  the  damp,  and 
no  longer  existed;  and  the  pemmican — well,  it  had  a 
strange  appearance,  and  when  we  tasted  it — ugh!  It 
too  had  to  be  thrown  away.  There  remained  a  certain 
quantity  of  fish  flour,  some  aleuronate  flour,  and  some 
damp  half-moulded  bread,  which  we  carefully  boiled  in 
train-oil,  partly  to  dry  it,  as  all  damp  was  expelled  by  the 
boiling  oil,  partly  to  render  it  more  nutritious  by  impreg- 
nating it  with  fat.  We  thought  it  tasted -delightful,  and 
preserved  it  carefully  for  festal  occasions  and  times  when 
all  other  food  failed  us.  Had  we  been  able  to  dry  bear's 
flesh  we  should  have  managed  very  well ;  but  the  weather 
was  too  raw  and  cold,  and  the  strips  of  flesh  we  hung  up 
became  only  half  dry.  There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to 
lay  in  a  store  of  as  much  cut-up  raw  flesh  and  blubber  as 
we  could  carry  with  us.  Then  we  filled  the  three  tin 
boxes  that  had  held  our  petroleum  with  train-oil,  which 


THE   NEW  YEAR,  i8g6  483 

we  used  as  fuel.  For  cooking  on  the  journey  we  would 
use  the  pot  belonging  to  our  cooking  apparatus ;  and  our 
lamp  we  used  as  a  brazier  in  which  to  burn  blubber  and 
train-oil  together.  These  provisions  and  this  fuel  did  not 
constitute  a  particularly  light  equipment ;  but  it  had  this 
advantage,  that  we  should  probably  be  able  to  replace 
what  we  consumed  of  it  by  the  way.  It  was  to  be  hoped 
that  we  should  find  plenty  of  game. 

Our  short  sledges  were  a  greater  trouble  to  us,  for  of 
course  we  could  not  get  them  lengthened  now.  If  we 
failed  to  find  open  water  all  the  way  over  to  Spitzbergen, 
and  were  compelled  to  drag  them  over  the  uneven  drift- 
ice,  we  could  scarcely  imagine  how  we  should  get  on 
with  the  kayaks  lying  on  these  short  sledges,  without 
getting  them  knocked  to  pieces  on  hummocks  and  press- 
ure-ridges ;  for  the  kayaks  were  supported  only  at  the 
middle,  while  both  ends  projected  far  beyond  the  sledge, 
and  at  the  slightest  inequality  these  ends  hacked  against 
the  ice,  and  scraped  holes  in  the  sail-cloth.  We  had  to 
protect  them  well  by  lashing  bearskins  under  them ;  and 
then  we  had  to  make  the  best  grips  we  could  contrive 
out  of  the  scanty  wood  we  had  to  fix  on  the  sledges. 
This  was  no  easy  matter,  for  the  great  point  was  to  make 
the  grips  high  in  order  to  raise  the  kayaks  as  much  as 
possible  and  keep  them  clear  of  the  ice ;  and  then  they 
had  to  be  well  lashed  in  order  to  keep  their  places.  But 
we  had  no  cord  to  lash  them  with,  and  had  to  make  it  for 
ourselves  of  raw  bearskin  or  walrus  hide,  which  is  not  the 


484  FARTHEST  NORTH 

best  possible  material  for  lashings.  This  difficulty,  too, 
we  overcame,  and  got  our  kayaks  to  lie  steadily  and  well. 
We  of  course  laid  the  heaviest  part  of  their  cargo  as  much 
as  possible  in  the  middle,  so  that  the  ends  should  not  be 
broken  down  by  the  weight.  Our  own  personal  equipment 
was  quite  as  difficult  to  get  in  order.  I  have  mentioned 
that  we  made  ourselves  new  clothes,  and  this  took  a  long 
time,  with  two  such  inexpert  tailors;  but  practice  made  us 
gradually  more  skilful,  and  I  think  we  had  good  reason  to 
be  proud  of  the  results  we  finally  achieved.  When  we  at 
last  put  them  on,  the  clothes  had  quite  an  imposing  appear- 
ance— so  we  thought,  at  any  rate.  We  saved  them  up,  and 
kept  them  hanging  as  long  as  possible,  in  order  that  they 
might  still  be  new  when  we  started ;  Johansen,  I  believe, 
did  not  wear  his  new  coat  before  we  fell  in  with  other 
people.  He  declared  he  must  keep  it  fresh  till  we  arrived 
in  Norway ;  he  could  not  go  about  like  a  pirate  when 
he  got  among  his  countrymen  again.  The  poor  remains 
of  underclothes  that  we  possessed  had,  of  course,  to  be 
thoroughly  washed  before  we  started,  so  that  it  should 
be  possible  to  move  in  them  without  their  rasping  too 
many  holes  in  our  skin.  The  washing  we  accomplished 
as  above  described.  Our  foot-gear  was  in  anything  but  a 
satisfactory  condition.  Socks,  indeed,  we  could  make  of 
bearskin ;  but  the  worst  of  it  was  that  the  soles  of  our 
"komager"  were  almost  worn  out.  We  managed,  how- 
ever, to  make' soles  of  a  sort  out  of  walrus  hide,  by  scrap- 
ing about  half  its  thickness  away  and  then  drying  it  over 


THE  NEW  YEAR,  i8g6  485 

the  lamp.  With  these  soles  we  mended  our  "  komager," 
after  the  fashion  of  the  Finns  ;  we  had  plenty  of  "  senne  " 
thread  (sedge  thread),  and  we  managed  to  get  our  "  ko- 
magers"  pretty  well  water-tight  again.  Thus,  in  spite  of 
everything,  we  were  tolerably  well  off  for  clothes,  though 
it  cannot  be  said  that  those  we  had  were  remarkable  for 
their  cleanliness.  To  protect  us  against  wind  and  rain 
we  had  still  our  wind  clothes,  which  we  had  patched  and 
stitched  tosfether  as  well  as  we  could ;  but  it  took  a  terri- 
ble  time,  for  the  whole  garments  now  consisted  of  scarcely 
anything  else  but  patches  and  seams,  and  when  you  had 
sewed  up  a  hole  at  one  place  they  split  at  another  the 
next  time  you  put  them  on.  The  sleeves  were  particular- 
ly bad,  and  at  last  I  tore  both  sleeves  off  my  jacket,  so 
that  I  should  not  have  the  annoyance  of  seeing  them  per- 
petually stripped  away. 

It  was  very  desirable,  too,  that  we  should  have  a  toler- 
ably light  sleeping-bag.  The  one  we  had  brought  with 
us  no  longer  existed,  as  we  had  made  clothes  out  of 
the  blankets ;  so  the  only  thing  was  to  try  and  make  as 
light  a  bag  as  possible  out  of  bearskin.  By  picking 
out  the  thinnest  skins  we  possessed,  we  managed  to 
make  one  not  so  much  heavier  than  the  reindeer-skin 
bag  which  we  had  taken  with  us  on  leaving  the  Fram. 
A  greater  difficulty  was  to  procure  a  practicable  tent. 
The  one  we  had  had  was  out  of  the  question.  It  had  been 
worn  and  torn  to  pieces  on  our  five  months'  journey  of 
the  year  before,  and  what  was   left   of   it  the  foxes  had 


486  FARTHEST  NORTH 

made  an  end  of,  as  we  had  had  it  lying  spread  over  our 
meat  and  blubber  heap  in  the  autumn  to  protect  it 
against  the  gulls.  The  foxes  had  gnawed  and  torn  it  in 
all  directions,  and  had  carried  off  great  strips  of  it,  which 
we  found  scattered  around.  We  speculated  a  great  deal 
as  to  how  we  could  make  ourselves  a  new  tent.  The 
only  thing  we  could  think  of  was  to  put  our  sledges, 
with  the  kayaks  upon  them,  parallel  to  each  other  at  the 
distance  of  about  a  man's  height,  then  pile  snow  around 
them  at  the  sides  until  they  were  closed  in,  lay  our  snow- 
shoes  and  bamboo  staffs  across,  and  then  spread  our  two 
sails,  laced  together,  over  the  whole,  so  that  they  should 
reach  the  ground  on  both  sides.  In  this  way  we  man- 
aged to  make  ourselves  a  quite  effective  shelter,  the 
kayaks  forming  the  roof  ridges,  and  the  sails  the  side 
walls  of  the  tent.  It  was  not  quite  impervious  to  drift- 
ing snow,  and  we  had  usually  a  good  deal  of  trouble  in 
stopping  up  cracks  and  openings  with  our  wind  clothes 
and  things  of  that  sort. 

But  the  most  important  part  of  our  equipment  was, 
after  all,  our  firearms,  and  these,  fortunately,  we  had 
kept  in  tolerably  good  order.  We  cleaned  the  rifles 
thoroughly  and  rubbed  them  with  train  -  oil.  We  had 
also  a  little  vaseline  and  gun-oil  left  for  the  locks.  On 
taking  stock  of  our  ammunition,  we  found,  to  our  joy, 
that  we  still  had  about  lOO  rifle  cartridges  and  no  small- 
shot  cartridges.  We  had  thus  enough,  if  necessary,  for 
several  more  winters. 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE    JOURNEY    SOUTHWARD 

At  last,  on  Tuesday,  May  19th,  we  were  ready  for 
the  start.  Our  sledges  stood  loaded  and  lashed.  The 
last  thing  we  did  was  to  photograph  our  hut,  both  out- 
side and  inside,  and  to  leave  in  it  a  short  report  of  our 
journey.     It  ran  thus  : 

"Tuesday,  May  19,  1896.  We  were  frozen  in  north 
of  Kotelnoi  at  about  78°  43'  north  latitude,  September 
22,  1893.  Drifted  northwestward  during  the  following 
year,  as  we  had  expected  to  do.  Johansen  and  I  left  the 
Fram,  March  14,  1895,  at  about  84°  \  north  latitude 
and  103°  east  longitude,*  to  push  on  northward.  The 
command  of  the  remainder  of  the  expedition  was  trans- 
ferred to  Sverdrup.  Found  no  land  northward.  On 
April  6,  1895,  we  had  to  turn  back  at  86°  14'  north  lati- 
tude and  about  95°  east  longitude,  the  ice  having  be- 
come impassable.  Shaped  our  course  for  Cape  Fligely; 
but  our  watches  having  stopped,  we  did  not  know  our 
longitude  with  certainty,  and  arrived  on  August  6,  1895, 

*  This  was  a  slip  of  the  pen ;  it  ought  to  be  102°  east  longitude. 


488  FARTHEST  NORTH 

at  four  glacier-covered  islands  to  the  north  of  this  line  of 
islands,  at  about  8i°  30'  north  latitude,  and  about  7°  E. 
of  this  place.  Reached  this  place  August  26,  1895,  and 
thought  it  safest  to  winter  here.  Lived  on  bears  flesh. 
Are  starting  to-day  southwestward  along  the  land,  in- 
tending to  cross  over  to  Spitzbergen  at  the  nearest  point. 
We  conjecture  that  we  are  on  Gillies  Land. 

"  Fridtjof  Nansen." 

This  earliest  report  of  our  journey  was  deposited  in 
a  brass  tube  which  had  formed  the  cylinder  of  the  air- 
pump  of  our"  Primus."  The  tube  was  closed  with  a  plug 
of  wood  and  hung  by  a  wire  to  the  roof-tree  of  the  hut. 

At  length,  on  Tuesday,  the  19th  of  May,  we  were 
ready,  and  at  7  p.m.  left  our  winter  lair  and  began  our 
journey  south.  After  having  had  so  little  exercise  all 
the  winter,  we  were  not  much  disposed  for  walking,  and 
thought  our  sledges  with  the  loaded  kayaks  heavy  to  pull 
along.  In  order  not  to  do  too  much  at  first,  but  make 
our  joints  supple  before  we  began  to  exert  ourselves 
seriously,  we  walked  for  only  a  few  hours  the  first  day,  and 
then,  well  satisfied,  pitched  our  camp.  There  was  such  a 
wonderfully  happy  feeling  in  knowing  that  we  were,  at 
last,  on  the  move,  and  that  we  were  actually  going  home- 
ward. 

The  following  day  (Wednesday,  May  20th)  we  also 
did  only  a  short  day's  march.  We  were  making  for  the 
promontory   to   the  southwest  of  us  that  we  had   been 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD 


489 


looking  at  all  the  winter.  Judging  from  the  sky,  it  was 
on  the  farther  side  of  this  headland  that  we  should  find 
open  water.  We  were  very  eager  to  see  how  the  land  lay 
ahead  of  this  point.  If  we  w^ere  north  of  Cape  Lofiey, 
the  land  must  begin  to  trend  to  the  southeast.     If,  on  the 


St* 


t^S^* 


■/^ 


-  (- 


\ 


^^, 


y*  _^ 


,.-  'S'**    ... 


p^i 


OUR    WINTER     LAIR 


other  hand,  the  trend  of  the  coast  was  to  the  southwest, 
then  this  must  be  a  new  land  farther  west,  and  near 
Gillies  Land. 

The  next  day  (Thursday,  May  21st)  we  reached  this 
promontory,  and  pitched  our  camp  there.     All  through 


490  FARTHEST  NORTH 

the  winter  we  had  called  it  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  as 
we  expected  to  find  different  conditions  there  which 
would  facilitate  our  advance ;  and  our  hopes  were  not 
to  be  disappointed.  From  the  crest  of  the  mountain  I 
saw  open  water  not  far  off  to  the  south,  and  also  two 
new  snow-lands,  one  large  one  in  front  (in  the  south, 
40°  W.),  and  one  not  much  smaller  in  the  west  (S.  85° 
W.).  It  was  completely  covered  with  glacier,  and  looked 
like  an  evenly  vaulted  shield.  I  could  not  see  clearly 
how  the  coast  ran  on  account  of  a  headland  to  the 
southward.  But  it  did  not  seem  to  trend  to  the  south- 
east, so  that  we  could  not  be  near  Cape  Lofley.  We 
now  hoped  that  we  might  be  able  to  launch  our  kayaks 
the  very  next  day,  and  that  we  should  then  make  rapid 
progress  in  a  southwesterly  direction;  but  in  this  we 
were  disappointed.  The  next  day  there  was  a  snow- 
storm, and  we  had  to  stay  where  we  were.  As  I  lay  in 
the  bag  in  the  morning,  preparing  breakfast,  I  all  at 
once  caught  sight  of  a  bear  walking  quietly  past  us  at 
a  distance  of  about  twenty  paces.  It  looked  at  us  and 
our  kayaks  once  or  twice,  but  could  not  quite  make  out 
what  we  were,  as  the  wind  was  in  another  direction  and 
it  could  not  get  scent  of  us,  so  it  continued  its  way.  I 
let  it  go  unharmed;  we  still  had  food  enough. 

On  Saturday,  May  23d,  the  weather  was  still  bad,  but 
we  went  ahead  a  little  way  to  examine  our  road  onward. 
The  point  to  be  found  out  was  whether  we  ought  at 
once  to  make  for  the  open  water,  that  lay  on  the  other 


U2 

o 
a 

H 

s     > 

*     "Pi 


CO 
On 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  493 

side  of  an  island  to  the  west,  or  whether  we  ought  to 
travel  southward  upon  the  shore-ice  along  the  land.  We 
came  to  a  headland  consisting  of  uncommonly  marked 
columnar  basalt,  which  on  account  of  its  peculiar  form 
we  called  the  "  Castle."  *  We  here  saw  that  the  land 
stretched  farther  in  a  southerly  direction,  and  that  the 
open  water  went  the  same  way,  only  separated  from 
the  land  by  a  belt  of  shore-ice.  As  the  latter  appeared 
to  be  full  of  cracks,  w^e  decided  to  go  over  to  the  isl- 
and in  the  west,  and  put  to  sea  as  quickly  as  possible. 
We  therefore  returned  and  made  all  ready.  Our  prep- 
arations consisted,  first  and  foremost,  in  carefully  calk- 
ing the  seams  of  our  kayaks  by  melting  stearine  over 
them,  and  then  restowing  the  cargo  so  as  to  leave  room 
for  us  to  sit  in  them.  The  following  day  (Sunday, 
May  24th)  we  moved  on  westward  towards  the  island, 
and  as  the  wind  was  easterly  and  we  were  able  to 
employ  sails  on  the  sledges  we  got  on  pretty  quickly 
across  the  flat  ice.  x4.s  we  approached  the  island,  how- 
ever, a  storm  blew  up  from  the  southwest,  and  after 
the  sledges  had  upset  several  times  we  were  obliged 
to  take  down  our  sails.  The  sky  became  overcast, 
the  air  grew  misty,  and  we  worked  our  way  against 
the  strong  wind  in  towards  the  land.  The  thing  was 
to  get  to  land  as  quickly  as  possible,  as  we  might  evi- 
dently expect  bad  weather.       But  now   the   ice  became 

*  Jackson's  "Cape  M'Clintock." 


494  FARTHEST  NORTH 

treacherous.  As  we  approached  the  land  there  were  a 
number  of  cracks  in  every  direction,  and  these  were 
covered  with  a  layer  of  snow,  so  that  it  was  difficult  to 
see  them.  While  Johansen  was  busy  lashing  the  sail  and 
mast  securely  to  the  deck  of  his  kayak,  so  that  the  wind 
should  not  carry  them  away,  I  went  on  ahead  as  fast  as  I 
could  to  look  for  a  camping-ground ;  but  all  of  a  sudden 
the  ice  sank  beneath  me,  and  I  lay  in  the  water  in  a 
broad  crack  which  had  been  concealed  by  the  snow.  I 
tried  to  get  out  again,  but  with  my  snow-shoes  firmly 
fastened  it  was  not  possible  to  get  them  through  all  the 
rubble  of  snow  and  lumps  of  ice  that  had  fallen  into  the 
water  on  the  top  of  them.  In  addition  to  this,  I  was 
fastened  to  the  sledge  by  the  harness,  so  that  I  could  not 
turn  round.  Fortunately,  in  the  act  of  falling,  I  had  dug 
my  pikestaff  into  the  ice  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
crack,  and,  holding  myself  up  by  its  aid  and  the  one  arm 
that  I  had  got  above  the  edge  of  the  ice,  I  lay  waiting 
patiently  for  Johansen  to  come  and  pull  me  out.  I  was 
sure  he  must  have  seen  me  fall  in,  but  could  not  turn 
enough  to  look  back.  When  I  thought  a  long  time  had 
passed,  and  I  felt  the  staff  giving  way  and  the  water 
creeping  farther  and  farther  up  my  body,  I  began  to  call 
out,  but  received  no  answer.  I  shouted  louder  for  help, 
and  at  last  heard  a  "Hullo!"  far  behind.  After  some 
little  time,  when  the  water  was  up  to  my  chest,  and  it 
would  not  have  been  long,  before  I  was  right  under, 
Johansen  came  up  and  I  was  pulled  out.     He  had  been 


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THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  497 

SO  occupied  with  his  sledge  that  he  had  not  noticed  that 
I  was  in  the  water  until  the  last  time  I  called.  This  ex- 
perience had  the  effect  of  making  me  careful  in  the  fut- 
ure not  to  go  on  such  deceitful  ice  with  my  snow-shoes 
firmly  attached.  By  observing  a  little  more  caution,  we 
at  length  reached  the  land,  and  found  a  camping-place 
where  there  was  a  certain  amount  of  shelter.  To  our 
surprise,  we  discovered  a  number  of  w^alruses  lying  along 
the  shore  here,  herd  upon  herd,  beside  the  cracks ;  but 
we  took  no  notice  of  them  either,  for  the  present ;  we 
thought  we  still  had  a  sufficient  supply  of  food  and 
blubber  to  draw  upon. 

During  the  succeeding  days  the  storm  raged,  and  we 
could  not  move.  The  entry  for  Tuesday,  May  26th,  is 
as  follows  :  "  We  have  lain  weather-bound  yesterday  and 
to  -  day  beneath  the  glacier  cliff  on  the  north  side  of 
this  island.  The  snow  is  so  wet  that  it  will  be  difficult 
to  get  anywhere  ;  but  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  open 
channel  outside  is  not  far  off,  and  we  shall  get  on  quickly 
there  when  once  the  storm  abates.  We  shall  then  make 
up  for  this  long  delay."  But  our  stay  was  to  be  longer 
than  we  thought.  On  Thursday,  May  28th,  the  journal 
says :  "  We  were  up  on  the  island  yesterday,  and  saw 
open  sea  to  the  south,  but  are  still  lying  weather-bound 
as  before.  I  only  moved  our  tent-place  a  little  on  account 
of  the  cracks;  the  ice  threatened  to  open  just  beneath 
us.  There  are  a  great  many  walruses  here.  When  we 
go  out  over  the  ice  the  fellows  follow  us  and  come  up  in 
11.-32 


498  FARTHEST  NORTH 

the  cracks  beside  us.     We  can  often  hear  them  grunting 
as  they  go,  and  butting  at  the  ice  under  our  feet." 

That  day,  however,  the  storm  so  far  abated  that  we 
were  able  to  move  southward  along  the  east  side  of  the 
island.  On  the  way  we  passed  a  large  open  pool  in 
the  shore-ice  between  this  island  and  the  land.  It  must 
have  been  shallow  here,  for  there  was  a  strong  current, 
which  was  probably  the  cause  of  this  pool  being  kept 
open.  We  passed  two  or  three  herds  of  walruses  ly- 
ing on  the  ice  near  it.  Concerning  these  I  wrote  that 
evening:  "I  went  up  to  one  herd  of  about  nine  to  take 
photographs  of  the  animals.  I  went  close  up  to  them, 
behind  a  little  mound,  and  they  did  not  see  me ;  but  di- 
rectly I  rose  up,  not  more  than  20  feet  away  from  them, 
a  female  with  her  young  one  plunged  into  the  water 
through  a  hole  close  by.  I  could  not  get  the  others 
to  stir,  however  much  I  shouted.  Johansen  now  joined 
me,  and,  although  he  threw  lumps  of  snow  and  ice 
at  them,  they  would  not  move ;  they  only  struck  their 
tusks  into  the  lumps  and  sniffed  at  them,  while  I  kept 
on  photographing  them.  When  I  went  right  up  to 
them,  most  of  them  at  last  got  up  and  floundered  away 
towards  the  hole,  and  one  plunged  in ;  but  the  others 
stopped  and  composed  themselves  to  sleep  again.  Soon, 
too,  the  one  that  had  first  disappeared  came  back  and 
crept  on  to  the  ice.  The  two  that  lay  nearest  to  me 
never  stirred  at  all ;  they  raised  their  heads  a  little  once 
or  twice,  looked  contemptuously  at  me  as  I  stood  three 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  499 

paces  from  them,  laid  tlieir  heads  down  and  went  to 
sleep  again.  They  barely  moved  when  I  pricked  them 
in  the  snout  with  my  pikestaff,  but  I  was  able  to  get 
a  pretty  good  photograph  of  them.  I  thought  I  now 
had  enough,  but  before  I  went  I  gave  the  nearest  one 
a  parting  poke  in  the  snout  with  my  pikestaff;  it  got 
right  up,  grunted  discontentedly,  looked  in  astonishment 
at  me  wdth  its  great  round  eyes,  and  then  quietly  be- 
gan to  scratch  the  back  of  its  head,  and  I  got  another 
photograph,  whereupon  it  again  lay  quietly  down.  When 
we  went  on,  they  all  immediately  settled  themselves 
again,  and  were  lying  like  immovable  masses  of  flesh 
when  we  finally  rounded  the  promontory  and  lost  sight 
of  them." 

Once  more  we  had  snow-storms,  and  now  lay  weather- 
bound on  the  south  side  of  the  island. 

"  Friday,  May  29th.     Lying  weather-bound. 

"Saturday,  May  30th.  Lying  weather- bound,  stop- 
ping up  the  tent  against  the  driving  snow  while  the  wind 
flits  round  us,  attacking  first  one  side  and  then  another." 
It  was  all  we  could  do  to  keep  ourselves  tolerably  dry 
during  this  time,  with  the  snow  drifting  in  through  the 
cracks  on  all  sides,  on  us  and  our  bag,  melting  and  sat- 
urating everything. 

"  Monday,  June  ist.  Yesterday  it  at  last  grew  a  little 
calmer,  and  cleared  up  so  that  we  had  bright  sunshine  in 
the  evening.  We  rejoiced  in  the  thought  of  moving  on, 
got  our  kayaks   and   everything   ready  to   launch,   and 


500  FARTHEST  NORTH 

crept  into  our  bag,  to  turn  out  early  this  morning  for  a 
fine  day,  as  we  thought.  The  only  thing  that  made  it  a 
little  doubtful  was  that  the  barometer  had  ceased  rising — 
had  fallen  again  i  millim.,  in  fact.  In  the  night  the  storm 
came  on  again — the  same  driving  snow,  only  with  this 
difference,  that  now  the  wind  is  going  round  the  compass 
with  the  sun,  so  there  must  soon  be  an  end  of  it.  This 
is  beginning  to  be  too  much  of  a  good  thing;  I  am  now 
seriously  afraid  that  the  Fram  will  get  home  before  us. 
I  went  for  a  walk  inland  yesterday.  There  were  flat 
clay  and  gravel  stretches  everywhere.  I  saw  numerous 
traces  of  geese,  and  in  one  place  some  white  egg-shell, 
undoubtedly  belonging  to  a  goose's  ^%%y  We  therefore 
called  the  island  Goose  Island.* 

"Tuesday,  June  2d.  Still  lay  weather-bound  last 
night,  and  to-day  it  has  been  windier  than  ever.  But 
now,  towards  evening,  it  has  begun  to  abate  a  little, 
with  a  brightening  sky  and  sunshine  now  and  again ; 
so  we  hope  that  there  will  really  be  a  change  for  the 
better.  Here  we  lie  in  a  hollow  in  the  snow,  getting 
wetter  and  wetter,  and  thinking  that  it  is  June  already 
and  everything  looks  beautiful  at  home,  while  we  have 
got  no  farther  than  this.  But  it  cannot  be  much  longer 
before  we  are  there.  Oh,  it  is  too  much  to  think  of !  If 
only  I  could  be  sure  about  the  Fram  !  If  she  arrives 
before  us,  ah !  what  will  those  poor  waiting  ones  do  Y' 

*  Jackson,  who  saw  it  in  the  spring  of  1895,  called  it  Mary  Elizabeth 
Island. 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  50 1 

At  length,  on  Wednesday,  June  3d,  we  went  on ; 
but  now  the  west  wind  had  driven  the  ice  landward, 
so  that  there  was  no  longer  open  sea  to  travel  south 
upon,  and  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  go  over  the  ice 
along  the  land.  However,  the  wind  was  from  the  north, 
and  we  could  put  up  a  sail  on  our  sledges,  and  thus  get 
along  pretty  fast.  We  still  saw  several  walruses  on  the 
ice,  and  there  were  also  some  in  the  water  that  w^ere 
continually  putting  their  heads  up  in  the  cracks  and 
2:runtin2:  after  us.  The  ice  we  were  crossinof  here  was 
remarkably  thin  and  bad,  and  as  we  got  farther  south  it 
became  even  worse.  It  was  so  weighed  down  with  the 
masses  of  snow  that  lay  upon  it  that  there  was  water 
beneath  the  snow  wherever  we  turned.  We  had  to 
make  towards  land  as  quickly  as  possible,  as  it  looked 
still  w^orse  farther  south.  By  going  on  snow-shoes, 
however,  we  kept  fairly  well  on  the  top  of  the  snow, 
though  often  both  sledge  and  snow-shoes  sank  down 
into  the  water  below  and  stuck  fast,  and  no  little 
trouble  would  be  caused  in  getting  everything  safely  on 
to  firmer  ice  again.  At  last,  however,  we  got  in  under 
a  high,  perpendicular  basaltic  cliff,*  which  swarmed 
with  auks.  This  was  the  first  time  we  had  seen  these 
birds  in  any  great  quantity  ;  hitherto  we  had  only  seen 
one  or  two  singly.  We  took  it  as  a  sign  that  we  were 
approaching  better -known  regions.     Alongside  of  it,  to 

*  Jackson's  "  Cape  Fisher." 


502  FARTHEST  NORTH 

the  southeast,  there  was  a  small  rocky  knoll,  where  num- 
bers of  fulmar  {Procellaria  glacialis)  seemed  to  be  breed- 
ing. Our  supply  of  food  was  now  getting  very  low,  and 
we  had  been  hoping  for  a  visit  from  some  bear  or  other ; 
but  now  that  we  needed  them  they  of  course  kept  away. 
We  then  determined  to  shoot  birds,  but  the  auks  flew  too 
high,  and  all  we  got  was  a  couple  of  fulmars.  As  we  just 
then  passed  a  herd  of  walruses  we  determined  to  take 
some  of  this  despised  food,  and  we  shot  one  of  them,  kill- 
ing it  on  the  spot.  At  the  report  the  others  raised  their 
heads  a  little,  but  only  to  let  them  fall  again,  and  went  on 
sleeping.  To  get  our  prize  skinned  with  these  brutes 
lying  around  us  was  not  to  be  thought  of,  and  we  must 
drive  them  into  the  water  in  some  way  or  other.  This 
was  no  easy  matter,  however.  We  went  up  to  them, 
shouted  and  halloed,  but  they  only  looked  at  us  lazily,  and 
did  not  move.  Then  we  hit  them  with  snow-shoe  staves ; 
they  became  angry,  and  struck  their  tusks  into  the  ice 
until  the  chips  flew,  but  still  would  not  move.  At  last, 
however,  by  continuing  to  poke  and  beat,  we  drove  the 
whole  herd  into  the  water,  but  it  was  not  quick  work.  In 
stately,  dignified  procession  they  drew  back  and  shambled 
slowly  off,  one  after  the  other,  to  the  water's  edge.  Here 
they  again  looked  round  at  us,  grunting  discontentedly, 
and  then  plunged  into  the  water  one  by  one.  But  while 
we  were  cutting  up  their  comrade  they  kept  coming  up 
again  in  the  crack  beside  us,  grunting  and  creeping  half  up 
on  'the  ice,  as  if  to  demand  an  explanation  of  our  conduct. 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  503 

After  having  supplied  ourselves  with  as  much  meat 
and  blubber  as  we  thought  wx  needed  for  the  moment,  as 
well  as  a  quantity  of  blood,  we  pitched  our  tent  close  by 
and  boiled  a  good  mess  of  blood  porridge,  which  consisted 
of  a  wonderful  mixture  of  blood,  powdered  fish,  Indian 
meal,  and  blubber.  We  still  had  a  good  wind,  and  sailed 
away  merrily  v/ith  our  sledges  all  night.  When  we  got  to 
the  promontory  to  the  south  of  us  we  came  to  open  water, 
which  here  ran  right  up  to  the  edge  of  the  glacier-covered 
land;  and  all  we  had  to  do  was  to  launch  our  kayaks  and 
set  off  along  by  the  glacier  cliff,  in  open  sea  for  the  first 
time  this  year.  It  was  strange  to  be  using  paddles  again 
and  to  see  the  water  swarming  with  birds — auks  and  little 
auks  and  kittiw^akes  all  round.  The  land  was  covered 
with  glaciers,  the  basaltic  rock  only  projecting  in  one  or 
two  places.  There  were  moraines,  too,  in  several  places 
on  the  glaciers.  We  were  not  a  little  surprised,  after 
going  some  way,  when  we  discovered  a  flock  of  eider- 
ducks  on  the  water.  A  little  later  we  saw  two  geese 
sitting  on  the  shore,  and  felt  as  if  we  had  come  into  quite 
civilized  regions  again.  After  a  couple  of  hours' paddling 
our  progress  south  was  stopped  by  shore-ice,  while  the 
open  water  extended  due  west  towards  some  land  we  had 
previously  seen  in  that  direction,  but  which  was  now 
covered  by  mist.  We  were  very  much  in  doubt  as  to 
which  way  to  choose,  whether  to  go  on  in  the  open  water 
westward — which  must  take  us  towards  Spitzbergen — 
or  to  leave  it  and  again   take   to   our  sledges  over  the 


504  FARTHEST  NORTH 

smooth  shore -ice  to  the  south.  Although  the  air  was 
thick  and  we  could  not  see  far,  we  felt  convinced  that  by 
going  over  the  ice  we  should  at  last  reach  open  water  on 
the  south  side  of  these  islands  among  which  we  were. 
Perhaps  we  might  there  find  a  shorter  route  to  Spitz- 
bergen.  In  the  meantime  morning  was  far  advanced 
(June  5th),  and  we  pitched  our  camp,  well  pleased  at 
having  got  so  far  south.* 

As  it  was  still  so  hazy  the  following  day  (Saturday, 
June  6th)  that  we  could  not  see  any  more  of  our  sur- 
roundings than  before,  and  as  there  was  a  strong  north 
wind,  which  would  be  inconvenient  in  crossing  the  open 
sea  westward,  we  determined  on  going  southward  over 
the  shore-ice.  We  were  once  more  able  to  use  a  sail  on 
our  sledges,  and  we  got  on  better  than  ever.  We  often 
went  along  without  any  exertion ;  we  could  stand  on  our 
snow-shoes,  each  in  front  of  our  sledge,  holding  the  steer- 
ing-pole (a  bamboo  cane  bound  firmly  to  the  stem  of  the 
kayaks)  and  letting  the  wind  carry  us  along.  In  the 
gusts  we  often  went  along  like  feathers,  at  other  times 
we  had  to  pull  a  little  ourselves.  We  made  good  prog- 
ress, and  kept  on  until  far  into  the  night,  as  we  wanted 
to  make  as  much  use  of  the  wind  as  possible.  We 
crossed  right  over  the  broad  sound  we  had  had  in  front 
of  us,  and  did  not  stop  until  we  were  able  to  pitch  our 
camp  by  an  island  on  its  southern  side. 

*  This  was  on  the  south  side  of  Jackson's  "  Cape  Richthofen,"  the 
most  northerly  point  which  Jackson  had  reached  earher  the  same  spring. 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  505 

Next  evening  (Sunday,  June   7th)  we  went  on  again, 
still  southward,  before   the   same  northerly  wind,  and  we 
could  sail  well.     We   had  hoped  to  be  able  to   reach  the 
land  before  we  again  pitched  our  camp,  but  it  was  farther 
than  we  had  thought,  and  at  last,  when  morning  (Monday, 
June  8th)  was  far  advanced,  we  had  to  stop  in  the  middle 
of  the   ice   in    a  furious   storm.      The  numerous   islands 
among  which  we  now  were  seemed  more  and  more  mys- 
terious  to  us.     I   find  in  my  journal  for  that  day :  "Are 
continually  discovering  new  islands  or  lands  to  the  south. 
There  is  one  great  land  of  snow  beyond  us  in  the  west, 
and  it  seems   to  extend  southward  a  long  way."     This 
snow  land  seemed  to  us  extremely  mysterious ;  we  had 
not  yet  discovered  a  single  dark  patch  upon  it,  only  snow 
and  ice  everywhere.     We  had  no  clear  idea  of  its  extent, 
as  we  had  only  caught  glimpses  of  it  now  and  then  when 
the  mist  lifted  a  little.     It  seemed  to  be  quite  low,  but  we 
thought  that  it  must   be  of  a  wider  extent  than  any  of 
the  lands  we  had  hitherto  travelled  along.     To  the  east 
we  found  island  upon  island,  and  sounds  and  fjords  the 
whole  way  along.     We  mapped  it  all  as  well  as  we  could, 
but  this  did  not  help  us  to  find  out  where  we  were ;  they 
seemed  to  be  only  a  crowd  of  small  islands,  and  every 
now  and  then  a  view  of  what  we  took  to  be  the  ocean  to 
the  east  opened  up  between  them. 

The  ice  over  which  we  were  now  travelling  was 
remarkably  different  from  that  which  we  had  had  farther 
north,  near  our  winter-hut ;  it  was  considerably  thinner, 


5o6  FARTHEST  NORTH 

and  covered,  too,  with  very  thick  snow,  so  that  it  was 
not  in  a  good  condition  for  traveUing  over.  When, 
therefore,  the  following  day  "(Tuesday,  June  9th),  it  also 
began  to  stick  in  lumps  to  our  sno.w-shoes  and  the  sledge- 
runners,  they  both  worked  rather  heavily ;  but  the  wind 
was  still  favorable,  and  we  sailed  along  well  notwith- 
standing. As  we  were  sailing  full  speed,  flying  before 
the  wind,  and  had  almost  reached  the  land,  Johansen 
and  his  sledge  suddenly  sank  down,  and  it  was  with 
difficulty  that  he  managed  to  back  himself  and  his 
things  against  the  wind  and  on  to  the  firmer  ice.  As 
I  was  rushing  along,  I  saw  that  the  snow  in  front  of 
me  had  a  suspiciously  wet  color,  and  my  snow-shoes 
began  to  cut  through ;  but  fortunately  I  still  had  time 
to  luff  before  any  further  misfortune  occurred.  We 
had  to  take  down  our  sails  and  make  a  long  detour 
westward,  before  we  could  continue  our  sail.  Next 
day,  also,  the  snow  clogged,  but  the  wind  had  fresh- 
ened, and  we  sailed  better  than  ever.  As  the  land  to 
the  east*  now  appeared  to  trend  to  the  southeast,  we 
steered  for  the  southernmost  point  of  a  land  to  the 
southwest.!  It  began  to  be  more  and  more  exciting. 
We  thought  we  must  have  covered  about  14  miles  that 
day,  and  reckoned  that  we  must  be  in  80°  8'  north  lati- 
tude, and  we  still  had  land  in  the  south.  If  it  con- 
tinued far  in  that  direction  it  was  certain  that  we  could 

*  It  proved  afterwards  to  be  "  Hooker  Island." 
t  It  proved  to  be  "  Northbrook  Island." 


H 

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THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  5^9 

not  be  on  Franz  Josef  Land  (as  I  still  thought  might  be 
the  case) ;  but  we  could  not  see  far  in  this  hazy  atmos- 
phere, and  then  it  was  remarkable  that  the  coast  on 
the  east  began  to  run  in  an  easterly  direction.  I  thought 
it  might  agree  with  Leigh -Smith's  map  of  Markham 
Sound.  In  that  case  we  must  have  come  south  through 
a  sound  which  neither  he  nor  Payer  could  have  seen, 
and  we  were  therefore  not  so  far  out  of  our  longitude, 
after  all.  But  no !  in  our  journey  southward  we  could 
not  possibly  have  passed  right  across  Payer's  Dove 
Glacier  and  his  various  islands  and  lands  without  hav- 
ing seen  them.  There  must  still  be  a  land  farther  west 
of  this,  between  Franz  Josef  Land  and  Spitzbergen ; 
Payer's  map  could  not  be  altogether  wrong.  I  wanted 
to  reach  the  land  in  the  southwest,  but  had  to  stop  on 
the  ice  ;  it  was  too  far. 

"  Our  provisions  are  getting  low ;  we  have  a  little 
meat  for  one  more  day,  but  there  is  no  living  thing  to 
be  seen,  not  a  seal  on  the  ice,  and  no  open  water  any- 
where. How  long  is  this  going  on }  If  we  do  not  soon 
reach  open  sea  again,  where  there  may  be  game  to  be 
had,  things  will  not  look  very  pleasant. 

"Tuesday,  June  i6th.  The  last  few  days  have  been 
so  eventful  that  there  has  been  no  time  to  write.  I  must 
try  to  make  up  for  lost  time  this  beautiful  morning,  while 
the  sun  is  peeping  in  under  the  tent.  The  sea  lies  blue 
and  shining  outside,  and  one  can  lie  and  fancy  one's  self 
at  home  on  a  June  morning." 


510  FARTHEST  NORTH 

On  Friday,  June  12th,  we  started  again  at  4  a.m.  with 
sails  on  our  sledges.  There  had  been  frost,  so  the  snow 
was  in  much  better  condition  again.  It  had  been  very 
windy  in  the  night,  too,  so  we  hoped  for  a  good  day. 
On  the  preceding  day  it  had  cleared  up  so  that  we  could 
at  last  see  distinctly  the  lands  around.  We  now  discov- 
ered that  we  must  steer  in  a  more  westerly  direction  than 
we  had  done  during  the  preceding  days,  in  order  to  reach 
the  south  point  of  the  land  to  the  west.  The  lands  to 
the  east  disappeared  eastward,  so  we  had  said  good-bye 
to  them  the  day  before.  We  now  saw,  too,  that  there 
was  a  broad  sound  in  the  land  to  the  west,*  and  that  it 
was  one  entire  land,  as  we  had  taken  it  to  be.  The  land 
north  of  this  sound  was  now  so  far  away  that  I  could 
only  just  see  it.  In  the  meantime  the  wind  had  dropped 
a  good  deal ;  the  ice,  too,  became  more  and  more  uneven 
— it  was  evident  that  we  had  come  to  the  drift-ice,  and  it 
was  much  harder  work  than  we  had  expected.  We  could 
see  by  the  air  that  there  must  be  open  water  to  the  south, 
and  as  we  went  on  we  heard,  to  our  joy,  the  sound  of 
breakers.  At  6  a.m.  we  stopped  to  rest  a  little,  and  on 
going  up  on  to  a  hummock  to  take  a  longitude  observa- 
tion I  saw  the  water  not  far  off.  From  a  higher  piece  of 
elacier-ice  we  could  see  it  better.  It  extended  towards 
the  promontory  to  the  southwest.  Even  though  the  wind 
had  become  a  little  westerly  now,  we  still  hoped  to  be  able 

*  The  sound  between  Northbrook  Island  and  Bruce  Island  on  the  one 
side  and  Peter  Head,  on  Alexandra  Land,  on  the  other  side. 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  S" 

to  sail  along  the  edge  of  the  ice,  and  determined  to  go  to 
the  water  by  the  shortest  way.  We  were  quickly  at  the 
edge  of  the  ice,  and  once  more  saw  the  blue  water  spread 
out  before  us.  We  soon  had  our  kayaks  lashed  together 
and  the  sail  up,  and  put  to  sea.  Nor  were  our  hopes 
disappointed;  we  sailed  well  all  day  long.  At  times  the 
wind  was  so  strong  that  we  cut  through  the  water,  and 
the  waves  washed  unpleasantly  over  our  kayaks ;  but  we 
got  on,  and  we  had  to  put  up  with  being  a  little  wet. 
We  soon  passed  the  point  we  had  been  making  for,*  and 
here  we  saw  that  the  land  ran  westward,  that  the  edge 
of  the  unbroken  shore-ice  extended  in  the  same  direc- 
tion, and  that  we  had  water  in  front  of  us.  In  good 
spirits,  we  sailed  westward  along  the  margin  of  the  ice. 
So  we  were  at  last  at  the  south  of  the  land  in  which  we 
had  been  wandering  for  so  long,  and  where  we  had  spent 
a  long  winter.  It  struck  me  more  than  ever  that,  in 
spite  of  everything,  this  south  coast  would  agree  well 
with  Leigh  Smith's  map  of  Franz  Josef  Land  and  the 
country  surrounding  their  winter  quarters ;  but  then  I 
remembered  Payer's  map  and  dismissed  the  thought. 

In  the  evening  we  put  in  to  the  edge  of  the  ice,  so  as 
to  stretch  our  legs  a  little ;  they  were  stiff  with  sitting 
in  the  kayak  all  day,  and  we  wanted  to  get  a  little  view 
over  the  water  to  the  west  by  ascending  a  hummock. 
As  we  went  ashore   the   question   arose   as   to   how   we 

*  Cape  Barents. 


512  PARISH  EST  NORTH 

should  moor  our  precious  vessel.  "  Take  one  of  the 
braces,"  said  Johansen ;  he  was  standing  on  the  ice. 
"  But  is  it  strong  enough  ?"  "  Yes,"  he  answered ;  "  I 
have  used  it  as  a  halyard  on  my  sledge -sail  all  the 
time."  "  Oh,  well,  it  doesn't  require  much  to  hold  these 
light  kayaks,"  said  I,  a  little  ashamed  of  having  been 
so  timid,  and  I  moored  them  with  the  halyard,  which 
was  a  strap  cut  from  a  raw  walrus  hide.  We  had  been 
on  the  ice  a  little  while,  moving  up  and  down  close 
to  the  kayaks.  The  wind  had  dropped  considerably,  and 
seemed  to  be  more  westerly,  making  it  doubtful  whether 
we  could  make  use  of  it  any  longer,  and  we  went  up  on 
to  a  hummock  close  by  to  ascertain  this  better.  As  we 
stood  there,  Johansen  suddenly  cried,  "  1  say!  the  kayaks 
are  adrift !"  We  ran  down  as  hard  as  we  could.  They 
were  already  a  little  way  out,  and  were  drifting  quickly 
off;  the  painter  had  given  way.  "  Here, take  my  watch!" 
I  said  to  Johansen,  giving  it  to  him ;  and  as  quickly  as 
possible  I  threw  off  some  clothing,  so  as  to  be  able  to 
swim  more  easily.  I  did  not  dare  to  take  everything 
off,  as  I  might  so  easily  get  cramp,  I  sprang  into  the 
water,  but  the  wind  was  off  the  ice,  and  the  light 
kayaks,  with  their  high  rigging,  gave  it  a  good  hold. 
They  were  already  well  out,  and  were  drifting  rapidly. 
The  water  was  icy  cold ;  it  was  hard  work  swimming 
with  clothes  on ;  and  the  kayaks  drifted  farther  and 
farther,  often  quicker  than  I  could  swim.  It  seemed 
more  than  doubtful  whether  I  could  manage  it.     But  all 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  513 

our  hope  was  drifting  there ;   all   we   possessed  was   on 

board — we  had  not  even  a  knife  with  us ;  and  whether  I 

got  cramp  and   sank   here,  or  turned   back  without  the 

kayaks,  it  would  come  to  pretty  much  the  same  thing; 

so   I  exerted  myself  to  the   utmost.     When   I  got   tired 

I     turned    over,    and    swam     on     my    back,    and    then 

I   could   see   Johansen   walking  restlessly  up  and   down 

on   the   ice.     Poor  lad  !      He  could   not  stand  still,  and 

thought  it  dreadful  not  to  be  able  to  do  anything.     He 

had  not  much   hope  that  I  could  do  it,  but  it  would  not 

improve    matters  in   the   least  if   he  threw  himself   into 

the  water  too.     He  said  afterwards  that  these  were  the 

worst  moments   he  had  ever  lived  throusch.     But  when 

I   turned    over    again    and    saw    that    I   was    nearer   the 

kayaks,  my  courage  rose,  and  I  redoubled  my  exertions. 

I  felt,  however,  that  my  limbs  were  gradually  stiffening 

and  losing  all  feeling,  and  I  knew  that  in  a  short  time  I 

should  not  be  able  to  move  them.     But  there  was  not  far 

to  go  now ;    if  I  could  only  hold  out  a  little   longer  we 

should  be  saved — and  I  went  on.     The  strokes  became 

more  and  more  feeble,  but  the  distance  became  shorter 

and  shorter,  and   I  began   to   think    I   should   reach  the 

kayaks.     At  last   I  was  able  to  stretch  out  my  hand  to 

the  snow-shoe  which  lay  across  the  sterns.     I  grasped  it, 

pulled  myself  in  to  the  edge  of  the  kayak — and  we  were 

saved !     I  tried  to  pull  myself  up,  but  the  whole  of  my 

body  was  so  stiff  with  cold  that  this  was  an  impossibility. 

For  a  moment  I  thought  that,  after  all,  it  was  too  late ;   I 
n--33 


SH  FARTHEST  NORTH 

was  to  get  so  far,  but  not  be  able  to  get  in.  After  a 
little,  however,  I  managed  to  swing  one  leg  up  on  to  the 
edge  of  the  sledge  which  lay  on  the  deck,  and  in  this  way 
managed  to  tumble  up.  There  I  sat,  but  so  stiff  with 
cold  that  I  had  difficulty  in  paddling.  Nor  was  it  easy 
to  paddle  in  the  double  vessel,  where  I  first  had  to  take 
one  or  two  strokes  on  one  side,  and  then  step  into  the 
other  kayak  to  take  a  few  strokes  on  the  other  side.  If  I 
had  been  able  to  separate  them,  and  row  in  one  while  I 
towed  the  other,  it  would  have  been  easy  enough ;  but  I 
could  not  undertake  that  piece  of  work,  for  I  should  have 
been  stiff  before  it  was  done  ;  the  thing  to  be  done  was  to 
keep  warm  by  rowing  as  hard  as  I  could.  The  cold  had 
robbed  my  whole  body  of  feeling,  but  when  the  gusts  of 
wind  came  they  seemed  to  go  right  through  me  as  I 
stood  there  in  my  thin,  wet  woollen  shirt.  I  shivered,  my 
teeth  chattered,  and  I  was  numb  almost  all  over;  but  I 
could  still  use  the  paddle,  and  I  should  get  warm  when  I 
got  back  on  to  the  ice  again.  Two  auks  were  lying  close 
to  the  bow,  and  the  thought  of  having  auk  for  supper 
was  too  tempting ;  we  were  in  want  of  food  now.  I 
got  hold  of  my  gun  and  shot  them  with  one  discharge. 
Johansen  said  afterwards  that  he  started  at  the  report, 
thinking  some  accident  had  happened,  and  could  not  un- 
derstand what  I  was  about  out  there,  but  when  he  saw 
me  paddle  and  pick  up  two  birds  he  thought  I  had  gone 
out  of  my  mind.  At  last  I  managed  to  reach  the  edge 
of   the   ice,  but  the  current  had  driven  me  a  long  way 


THE  JOURXEY  SOUTHWARD 


515 


from  our  landing-place.  Johansen  came  along  the  edge 
of  the  ice,  jumped  into  the  kayak  beside  me,  and  we 
soon  got  back  to  our  place.  I  was  undeniably  a  good 
deal  exhausted,  and   could    barely  manage   to   crawl  on 


I    MANAGED    TO    SWING    ONE    LEG    UP 


land.  I  could  scarcely  stand ;  and  while  I  shook  and 
trembled  all  over  Johansen  had  to  pull  off  the  wet  things 
I  had  on,  put  on  the  few  dry  ones  I  still  had  in  reserve, 
and  spread  the  sleeping-bag  out  upon  the  ice.     I  packed 


5i6  FARTHEST  NORTH 

myself  well  into  it,  and  he  covered  me  with  the  sail  and 
everything  he  could  find  to  keep  out  the  cold  air.  There 
I  lay  shivering  for  a  long  time,  but  gradually  the  warmth 
began  to  return  to  my  body.  For  some  time  longer, 
however,  my  feet  had  no  more  feeling  in  them  than 
icicles,  for  they  had  been  partly  naked  in  the  water. 
While  Johansen  put  up  the  tent  and  prepared  supper, 
consisting  of  my  two  auks,  I  fell  asleep.  He  let  me 
sleep  quietly,  and  when  I  awoke  supper  had  been  ready 
for  some  time,  and  stood  simmering  over  the  fire.  Auk 
and  hot  soup  soon  effaced  the  last  traces  of  my  swim. 
During  the  night  my  clothes  were  hung  out  to  dry,  and 
the  next  day  were  all  nearly  dry  again. 

As  the  tidal  current  was  strong  here,  and  there  was 
no  wind  for  sailing,  we  had  to  wait  for  the  turn  of  the 
tide,  so  as  not  to  have  the  current  against  us ;  and  it  was 
not  until  late  the  following  evening  that  we  went  on 
again.  We  paddled  and  got  on  well  until  towards  morn- 
ing (June  14th),  when  we  came  to  some  great  herds  of 
walrus  on  the  ice.  Our  supply  of  meat  was  exhausted 
but  for  some  auks  we  had  shot,  and  we  had  not  many 
pieces  of  blubber  left.  We  would  rather  have  had  a 
bear,  but  as  we  had  seen  none  lately  it  was  perhaps 
best  to  supply  ourselves  here.  We  put  in,  and  went  up 
to  one  herd  behind  a  hummock.  We  preferred  young 
ones,  as  they  were  much  easier  to  manipulate ;  and 
there  were  several  here.  I  first  shot  one  quite  small, 
and   then   another.     The   full-grown   animals  started  up 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  517 

at  the  first  report  and  looked  round,  and  at  the 
second  shot  the  whole  herd  began  to  go  into  the 
water.  The  mothers,  however,  would  not  leave  their 
dead  young  ones.  One  sniffed  at  its  young  one,  and 
pushed  it,  evidently  unable  to  make  out  what  was  the 
matter ;  it  only  saw  the  blood  spurting  from  its  head. 
It  cried  and  wailed  like  a  human  being.  At  last,  when 
the  herd  began  to  plunge  in,  the  mother  pushed  her 
young  one  before  her  towards  the  water.  I  now 
feared  that  I  should  lose  my  booty,  and  ran  forward 
to  save  it ;  but  she  was  too  quick  for  me.  She 
took  the  young  one  by  one  fore-leg,  and  disappeared 
with  it  like  lightning  into  the  depths.  The  other 
mother  did  the  same.  I  hardly  knew  how  it  had 
all  happened,  and  remained  standing  at  the  edge 
looking  down  after  them.  I  thought  the  young  ones 
must  rise  to  the  surface  again,  but  there  w-as  nothing  to 
be  seen  ;  they  had  disappeared  for  good.  The  mothers 
must  have  taken  them  a  long  way.  I  then  went  towards 
another  herd,  where  there  were  also  young  ones,  and 
shot  one  of  them  ;  but,  made  wiser  by  experience,  I  shot 
the  mother  too.  It  was  a  touching  sight  to  see  her  bend 
over  her  dead  young  one  before  she  was  shot,  and  even 
in  death  she  lay  holding  it  with  one  fore-leg.  So  now 
we  had  meat  and  blubber  enough  to  last  a  long  time,  and 
meat,  too,  that  was  delicious,  for  the  side  of  young  walrus 
tastes  like  loin  of  mutton.  To  this  we  added  a  dozen 
auks,  so  our    larder    was  now  well  furnished  with  good 


5i8  FARTHEST  NORTH 

food  ;  and  if  we  needed  more  the  water  was  full  of  auks 
and  other  food,  so  there  was  no  dearth. 

The  walruses  here  were  innumerable.  The  herds 
that  had  been  lying  on  the  ice  and  had  now  disappeared 
were  large  ;  but  there  had  been  many  more  in  the  water 
outside.  It  seemed  to  seethe  with  them  on  every  side, 
ofreat  and  small ;  and  when  I  estimate  their  number  to 
have  been  at  least  300,  it  is  certainly  not  over  the  mark. 

At  1.30  the  next  morning  (Monday,  June  15th)  we 
proceeded  on  our  way  in  beautifully  calm  weather.  As 
walruses  swarmed  on  all  sides,  we  did  not  much  like 
paddling  singly,  and  for  some  distance  lashed  the  kayaks 
together ;  for  we  knew  how  obtrusive  these  Q^entlemen 
could  be.  The  day  before  they  had  come  pretty  near, 
popped  up  close  beside  my  kayak,  and  several  times  fol- 
lowed us  closely  a  long  distance,  but  without  doing  us 
any  harm.  I  was  inclined  to  think  it  was  curiosity,  and 
that  they  were  not  really  dangerous ;  but  Johansen  was 
not  so  sure  of  this.  He  thought  we  had  had  experience 
to  the  contrary,  and  urged  that  at  any  rate  caution  could 
do  no  harm.  All  day  long  we  saw  herds,  that  often  fol- 
lowed us  a  long  way,  pressing  in  round  the  kayaks.  We 
kept  close  to  the  edge  of  the  ice ;  and  if  any  came  too 
near,  we  put  in,  if  possible,  on  an  ice-foot.*  We  also 
kept  close  together  or  beside  one  another.      We  paddled 

*  The  ice-foot  is  the  part  of  a  floe  which  often  projects  into  the  water 
under  the  surface.  It  is  formed  through  the  thawing  of  the  upper  part  of 
the  ice  in  the  summer-time  by  the  warmer  surface  layer  of  the  sea. 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  519 

past  one  large  herd  on  the  ice,  and  could  hear  them  a 
long  way  off  lowing  like  cows. 

We  glided  quickly  on  along  the  coast,  but  unfortu- 
nately a  mist  hung  over  it,  so  that  it  was  often  impossible 
to  determine  whether  they  were  channels  or  glaciers  be- 
tween the  dark  patches  which  we  could  just,  distinguish 
upon  it.  I  wanted  very  much  to  have  seen  a  little  more 
of  this  land.  My  suspicion  that  we  were  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  Leigh  Smith  winter  quarters  had  become 
stronger  than  ever.  Our  latitude,  as  also  the  direction 
of  the  coast -line  and  the  situation  of  the  islands  and 
sounds,  seemed  to  agree  far  too  well  to  admit  of  the  pos- 
sibility of  imagining  that  another  such  group  of  islands 
could  lie  in  the  short  distance  between  Franz  Josef  Land 
and  Spitzbergen.  Such  a  coincidence  would  be  alto- 
gether too  remarkable.  Moreover,  we  caught  glimpses 
of  land  in  the  far  west  which  in  that  case  could  not  lie 
far  from  Northeast  Land.  But  Payer's  map  of  the  land 
north  of  this  .^  Johansen  maintained,  with  reason,  that 
Payer  could  not  possibly  have  made  such  mistakes  as 
we  should  in  that  case  be  obliged  to  assume. 

Towards  morning  we  rowed  for  some  time  without 
seeing  any  walrus,  and  now  felt  more  secure.  Just  then 
we  saw  a  solitary  rover  pop  up  a  little  in  front  of  us. 
Johansen,  who  was  in  front  at  the  time,  put  in  to  a  sunken 
ledge  of  ice ;  and  although  I  really  thought  that  this  was 
caution  carried  to  excess,  I  was  on  the  point  of  follow- 
ing his  example.     I  had  not  got  so  far,  however,  when 


520 


FARTHEST  NORTH 


suddenly  the  walrus  shot  up  beside  me,  threw  itself  on  to 
the  edge  of  the  kayak,  took  hold  farther  over  the  deck 
with  one  fore-flipper,  and,  as  it  tried  to  upset  me,  aimed  a 
blow  at  the  kayak  with  its  tusks.  I  held  on  as  tightly  as 
possible,  so  as  not  to  be  upset  into  the  water,  and  struck 


"IT    TRIED    TO    UPSET    ME 

at  the  animal's  head  with  the  paddle  as  hard  as  I  could. 
It  took  hold  of  the  kayak  once  more  and  tilted  me  up, 
so  that  the  deck  was  almost  under  water,  then  let  go, 
and  raised  itself  right  up.  I  seized  my  gun,  but  at 
the  same  moment  it  turned  round  and  disappeared  as 
quickly  as  it  had  come.  The  whole  thing  had  happened 
in  a  moment,  and  I  was  just  going  to  remark  to  Johansen 
that  we  were  fortunate  in  escaping  so  easily  from  that 
adventure,  when    I   noticed    that    my  legs  were   wet.     I 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  521 

listened,  and  now  heard  the  water  trickling  into  the 
kayak  under  me.  To  turn  and  run  her  in  on  to  the 
sunken  ledge  of  ice  was  the  work  of  a  moment,  but 
I  sank  there.  The  thing  was  to  get  out  and  on  to 
the  ice,  the  kayak  all  the  time  getting  fuller.  The 
edge  of  the  ice  was  high  and  loose,  but  I  managed  to 
get  up  ;  and  Johansen,  by  tilting  the  sinking  kayak  over 
to  starboard,  so  that  the  leak  came  above  the  water, 
managed  to  bring  her  to  a  place  where  the  ice  was 
low  enough  to  admit  of  our  drawing  her  up.  All  I 
possessed  was  floating  about  inside,  soaked  through. 
"  What  I  most  regret  is  that  the  water  has  got  into  the 
photographic  apparatus,  and  perhaps  my  precious  pho- 
tographs are  ruined. 

"  So  here  we  lie,  with  all  our  worldly  goods  spread 
out  to  dry  and  a  kayak  that  must  be  mended  before 
we  can  face  the  walrus  again.  It  is  a  good  big  rent 
that  he  has  made,  at  least  six  inches  long;  but  it  is 
fortunate  that  it  was  no  worse.  How  easily  he  might 
have  wounded  me  in  the  thigh  with  that  tusk  of  his ! 
And  it  would  have  fared  ill  with  me  if  we  had  been 
farther  out,  and  not  just  at  such  a  convenient  place  by 
the  edge  of  the  ice,  where  there  was  a  sunken  ledge. 
The  sleeping-bag  was  soaking  wet;  we  wrung  it  out  as 
well  as  we  could,  turned  the  hair  outside,  and  have 
spent  a  capital  night  in  it." 

On  the  evening  of- the  same  day  I  wrote:  "To-day 
I   have  patched  my  kayak,  and  we  have   gone   over  all 


522  FARTHEST  NORTH 

the  seams  in  both  kayaks  with  stearine ;  so  now  we 
hope  we  shall  be  able  to  go  on  in  quite  sound  boats. 
In  the  meantime  the  walruses  are  lying  outside,  staring 
at  us  with  their  great,  round  eyes,  grunting  and  blow- 
ing, and  now  and  then  clambering  up  on  the  edge  of 
the  ice,  as  though  they  wanted  to  drive  us  away. 
"  Tuesday,  June  23d. 

"'Do  I  sleep?     Do  I  dream? 
Do  I  wonder  and  doubt  ? 
Are  things  what  they  seem? 
Or  are  visions  about  ?' 

What  has  happened  1  I  can  still  scarcely  grasp  it. 
How  incessant  are  the  vicissitudes  in  this  wandering 
life!  A  few  days  ago  swimming  in  the  water  for  dear 
life,  attacked  by  walrus,  living  the  savage  life  which  I 
have  lived  for  more  than  a  year  now,  and  sure  of  a 
long  journey  before  us  over  ice  and  sea  through  un- 
known regions  before  we  should  meet  with  other 
human  beings  —  a  journey  full  of  the  same  ups  and 
downs,  the  same  disappointments,  that  we  have  become 
so  accustomed  to — and  now  living  the  life  of  a  civilized 
European,  surrounded  by  everything  that  civilization 
can  afford  of  luxury  and  good  living,  with  abundance 
of  water,  soap,  towels,  clean,  soft  woollen  clothes,  books, 
and  everything  that  we  have  been  sighing  for  all  these 
weary  months. 

"  It  was  past  midday  on  June  17th  when  I  turned  out 
to  prepare  breakfast.     I  had  been  down  to  the  edge  of 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  52$ 

the  ice  to  fetch  salt-water,  had  made  up  the  fire,  cut  up 
the  meat  and  put  it  in  the  pot,  and  had  already  taken 
off  one  boot,  preparatory  to  creeping  into  the  bag  again, 
when  I  saw  that  the  mist  over  the  land  had  risen  a  little 
since  the  preceding  day.  I  thought  it  would  be  as  well 
to  take  the  opportunity  of  having  a  look  round,  so  I 
put  on  my  boot  again  and  went  up  on  to  a  hummock 
near  to  look  at  the  land  beyond.  A  gentle  breeze 
came  from  the  land,  bearing  with  it  a  confused  noise 
of  thousands  of  bird -voices  from  the  mountain  there. 
As  I  listened  to  these  sounds  of  life  and  movement, 
watched  flocks  of  auks  flying  to  and  fro  above  my 
head,  and  as  my  eye  followed  the  line  of  coast,  stop- 
ping at  the  dark,  naked  cliffs,  glancing  at  the  cold, 
icy  plains  and  glaciers  in  a  land  which  I  believed  to  be 
unseen  by  any  human  eye  and  untrodden  by  any  hu- 
man foot,  reposing  in  Arctic  majesty  behind  its  mantle 
of  mist — a  sound  suddenly  reached  my  ear  so  like  the 
barking  of  a  dog  that  I  started.  It  was  only  a  couple 
of  barks,  but  it  could  not  be  anything  else.  I  strained 
my  ears,  but  heard  no  more,  only  the  same  bubbling 
noise  of  thousands  of  birds.  I  must  have  been  mis- 
taken, after  all ;  it  was  only  birds  I  had  heard  ;  and  again 
my  eye  passed  from  sound  to  island  in  the  west.  Then 
the  barking  came  again — first  single  barks,  then  full  cry ; 
there  was  one  deep  bark,  and  one  sharper;  there  was 
no  longer  any  room  for  doubt.  At  that  moment  I 
remembered  having  heard   two    reports   the   day  before 


526  FARTHEST  NORTH 

which  I  thought  sounded  Hke  shots,  but  I  had  explained 
them  away  as  noises  in  the  ice.  I  now  shouted  to 
Johansen  that  I  heard  dogs  farther  inland.  Johansen 
started  up  from  the  bag  where  he  lay  sleeping  and 
tumbled  out  of  the  tent.  '  Dogs  V  He  could  not 
quite  take  it  in,  but  had  to  get  up  and  listen  with 
his  own  ears  while  I  got  breakfast  ready.  He  very 
much  doubted  the  possibility  of  such  a  thing,  yet  fancied 
once  or  twice  that  he  heard  something  which  might  be 
taken  for  the  barking  of  dogs ;  but  then  it  was  drowned 
again  in  the  bird-noises,  and,  everything  considered,  he 
thought  that  what  I  had  heard  was  nothing  more  than 
that.  I  said  he  might  believe  what  he  liked,  but  I 
meant  to  set  off  as  quickly  as  possible,  and  was  impatient 
to  get  breakfast  swallowed.  I  had  emptied  the  last  of 
the  Indian  meal  into  the  soup,  feeling  sure  that  we 
should  have  farinaceous  food  enough  by  the  evening. 
As  we  were  eating  we  discussed  who  it  could  be,  wheth- 
er our  countrymen  or  Englishmen.  If  it  was  the  Eng- 
lish expedition  to  Franz  Josef  Land  which  had  been  in 
contemplation  when  we  started,  what  should  we  do } 
'  Oh,  we'll  just  have  to  remain  with  them  a  day  or  two,' 
said  Johansen,  '  and  then  we'll  have  to  go  on  to  Spitz- 
bergen,  else  it  will  be  too  long  before  we  get  home.' 
We  were  quite  agreed  on  this  point;  but  we  would 
take  care  to  get  some  good  provisions  for  the  voyage 
out  of  them.  While  I  went  on,  Johansen  was  to  stay 
behind  and  mind  the  kavaks,  so  that  we  should  run  no 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  527 

risk  of  their  drifting  away  with  the  ice.  I  got  out 
ni)^  snow-shoes,  glass,  anc"  gun,  and  was  ready.  Before 
starting  I  went  up  once  JTiore  to  listen  and  look  out  a 
road  across  the  uneven  iCe  to  the  land.  But  there  was 
not  a  sound  like  the  barking  of  dogs,  only  noisy  auks, 
harsh-toned  little  auks,  and  screaming  kittiwakes.  Was 
it  these,  after  all,  that  I  had  heard  ?  I  set  off  in  doubt. 
Then  in  front  of  me  I  saw  the  fresh  tracks  of  an  animal. 
They  could  hardly  have  been  made  by  a  fox,  for  if  they 
were,  the  foxes  here  must  be  bigger  than  any  I  had  ever 
seen.  But  dogs }  Could  a  dog  have  been  no  more  than 
a  few  hundred  paces  from  us  in  the  night  without  bark- 
ing, or  without  our  having  heard  it  ?  It  seemed  scarcely 
probable ;  but,  whatever  it  was,  it  could  never  have  been 
a  fox.  A  wolf,  then  }  I  went  on,  my  mind  full  of 
strange  thoughts,  hovering  between  certainty  and  doubt. 
Was  all  our  toil,  were  all  our  troubles,  privations,  and 
sufferings  to  end  here }  It  seemed  incredible,  and 
yet —  Out  of  the  shadow-land  of  doubt,  certainty  was 
at  last  beginning  to  dawn.  Again  the  sound  of  a  dog 
yelping  reached  my  ear,  more  distinctly  than  ever;  I 
saw  more  and  more  tracks  which  could  be  nothing  but 
those  of  a  dog.  Among  them  were  foxes'  tracks,  and 
how  small  they  looked !  A  long  time  passed,  and  noth- 
ing was  to  be  heard  but  the  noise  of  the  birds.  Again 
arose  doubt  as  to  whether  it  was  all  an  illusion.  Per- 
haps it  was  only  a  dream.  But  then  I  remembered  the 
dogs'  tracks ;   they,  at   any  rate,  were  no  delusion.     But 


528 


FARTHEST  NORTH 


if  there  were  people  here  we  could  scarcely  be  on  Gil- 
lies Land  or  a  new  land,  as  we  had  believed  all  the  win- 
ter. We  must,  after  all,  be  on  the  south  side  of  Franz 
Josef  Land,  and  the  suspicion  I  had  had  a  few  days  ago 
was  correct,  namely,  that  w^e  had  come  south  through 


FRANZ    JOSEF    LAND 


an  unknown  sound  and  out  between  Hooker  Island  and 
Northbrook  Island,  and  were  now  off  the  latter,  in  spite 
of  the  impossibility  of  reconciling  our  position  with 
Payer's  map. 

"  It  was  with    a    strange   mixture  of   feelings  that    I 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  529 

made  my  way  in  towards  land  among  the  numerous 
hummocks  and  inequalities.  Suddenly  I  thought  I  heard 
a  shout  from  a  human  voice,  a  strange  voice,  the  first 
for  three  years.  How  my  heart  beat  and  the  blood  rush- 
ed to  my  brain  as  I  ran  up  on  to  a  hummock  and 
hallooed  with  all  the  strength  of  my  lungs !  Behind 
that  one  human  voice  in  the  midst  of  the  icy  desert — 
this  one  messas^e  from  life  —  stood  home  and  she  who 
was  waiting  there  ;  and  I  saw  nothing  else  as  I  made 
m}'^  way  between  bergs  and  ice  -  ridges.  Soon  I  heard 
another  shout,  and  saw,  too,  from  an  ice-ridge,  a  dark  form 
moving  among  the  hummocks  farther  in.  It  was  a  dog ; 
but  farther  off  came  another  figure,  and  that  was  a  man. 
Who  was  it  ?  Was  it  Jackson,  or  one  of  his  companions, 
or  was  it  perhaps  a  fellow-countryman  ?  We  approached 
one  another  quickly.  I  waved  my  hat ;  he  did  the  same. 
I  heard  him  speak  to  the  dog,  and  I  listened.  It  was 
English,  and  as  I  drew  nearer  I  thought  I  recognized  Mr. 
Jackson,  whom  I  remembered  once  to  have  seen. 

"  I  raised  my  hat ;  we  extended  a  hand  to  one  another, 
with  a  hearty  '  How  do  you  do  T  Above  us  a  roof  of 
mist  shutting  out  the  world  around,  beneath  our  feet  the 
rugged,  packed  drift-ice,  and  in  the  background  a  glimpse 
of  the  land,  all  ice,  glacier,  and  mist.  On  one  side  the 
civilized  European  in  an  English  check  suit  and  high 
rubber  water-boots,  well  shaved,  well  groomed,  bringing 
with  him  a  perfume  of  scented  soap,  perceptible  to  the 

wild  man's  sharpened  senses ;  on  the  other  side  the  wild 
11.-34 


530  FARTHEST  NORTH 

man  clad  in  dirty  rags,  black  with  oil  and  soot,  with  long 
uncombed  hair  and  shaggy  beard,  black  with  smoke,  with 
a  face  in  which  the  natural  fair  complexion  could  not 
possibly  be  discerned  through  the  thick  layer  of  fat  and 
soot  which  a  winter's  endeavors  with  warm  water,  moss, 
rags,  and  at  last  a  knife,  had  sought  in  vain  to  remove. 
No  one  suspected  who  he  was  or  whence  he  came. 

"  Jackson  :  '  I'm  immensely  glad  to  see  you.' 

"  'Thank  you  ;  I  also.' 

"  '  Have  you  a  ship  here  ?' 

"  '  No ;  my  ship  is  not  here." 

"  '  How  many  are  there  of  you  ?' 

"  '  I  have  one  companion  at  the  ice-edge.' 

"  As  we  talked,  we  had  begun  to  go  in  towards  land. 
I  took  it  for  granted  that  he  had  recognized  me,  or  at 
any  rate  understood  who  it  was  that  was  hidden  behind 
this  savage  exterior,  not  thinking  that  a  total  stranger 
would  be  received  so  heartily.  Suddenly  he  stopped, 
looked  me  full  in  the  face,  and  said,  quickly: 

"  'Aren't  you  Nansen  T 

"  '  Yes,  I  am.' 

" '  By  Jove !   I  am  glad  to  see  you  !' 

"'And  he  seized  my  hand  and  shook  it  again,  while 
his  whole  face  became  one  smile  of  welcome,  and  delight 
at  the  unexpected  meeting  beamed  from  his  dark  eyes. 

"  '  Where  have  you  come  from  now  ?'  he  asked. 

"  '  I  left  the  Frani  in  84°  north  latitude,  after  having 
drifted  for  two  years,  and   I  reached  the  86°  15'  parallel. 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  533 

where  we  had  to  turn  and  make  for  Franz  Josef  Land. 
We  were,  however,  obHged  to  stop  for  the  winter  some- 
where north  here,  and  are  now  on  our  route  to  Spitz- 
bergen. 

"  '  I  congratulate  you  most  heartily.  You  have  made 
a  good  trip  of  it,  and  I  am  awfully  glad  to  be  the  first 
person  to  congratulate  you  on  your  return.' 

"  Once  more  he  seized  my  hand  and  shook  it  heartily. 
I  could  not  have  been  welcomed  more  warmly  ;  that  hand- 
shake was  more  than  a  mere  form.  In  his  hospitable 
English  manner,  he  said  at  once  that  he  had  '  plenty  of 
room'  for  us,  and  that  he  was  expecting  his  ship  every 
day.  By  '  plenty  of  room'  I  discovered  afterwards  that  he 
meant  that  there  were  still  a  few  square  feet  on  the  floor 
of  their  hut  that  were  not  occupied  at  night  by  himself 
and  his  sleeping  companions.  But  '  heart-room  makes 
house-room,'  and  of  the  former  there  was  no  lack.  As 
soon  as  I  could  get  a  word  in,  I  asked  how  things  were 
getting  on  at  home,  and  he  was  able  to  give  me  the 
welcome  intelligence  that  my  wife  and  child  had  both 
been  in  the  best  of  health  when  he  left  two  years 
ago.  Then  came  Norway's  turn,  and  Norwegian  poli- 
tics ;  but  he  knew  nothing  about  that,  and  I  took  it  as 
a  sign  that  they  must  be  all  right  too.  He  now  asked  if 
we  could  not  go  out  at  once  and  fetch  Johansen  and  our 
belongings  ;  but  I  thought  that  our  kayaks  would  be  too 
heavy  for  us  to  drag  over  this  packed-up  ice  alone,  and 
that  if  he  had  men  enough  it  would  certainly  be  better  to 


534  FARTHEST  NORTH 

send  them  out.  If  we  only  gave  Johansen  notice  by  a 
salute  from  our  guns  he  would  wait  patiently;  so  we 
each  fired  two  shots.  We  soon  met  several  men — Mr. 
Armitage,  the  second  in  command  ;  Mr.  Child,  the 
photographer ;  and  the  doctor,  Mr.  Koetlitz.  As  they 
approached,  Jackson  gave  them  a  sign,  and  let  them 
understand  who  I  was ;  and  I  was  again  welcomed 
heartily.  We  met  yet  others — the  botanist,  Mr.  Fisher ; 
Mr.  Burgess,  and  the  Finn  Blomqvist  (his  real  name  was 
Melenius).  Fisher  has  since  told  me  that  he  at  once 
thought  it  must  be  me  when  he  saw  a  man  out  on  the  ice ; 
but  he  quite  gave  up  that  idea  when  he  met  me,  for  he 
had  seen  me  described  as  a  fair  man,  and  here  was  a 
dark  man,  with  black  hair  and  beard.  When  they  were 
all  there,  Jackson  said  that  I  had  reached  86°  15'  north 
latitude,  and  from  seven  powerful  lungs  I  was  given  a 
triple  British  cheer  that  echoed  among  the  hummocks. 
Jackson  immediately  sent  his  men  off  to  fetch  sledges  and 
go  out  to  Johansen,  while  we  went  on  towards  the  house, 
which  I  now  thought  1  could  see  on  the  shore.  Jackson 
now  told  me  that  he  had  letters  for  me  from  home,  and 
that  both  last  spring  and  this  he  had  had  them  with  him 
when  he  went  north,  on  the  chance  of  our  meeting. 
We  now  found  that  in  March  he  must  have  been 
at  no  great  distance  south  of  our  winter  -  hut,*  but 
had  to  turn  there,  as  he  was  stopped  by  open  water — 

*  He   had   reached   Cape    Richthofen,  about   35   miles   to  the   south 
of  us. 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD 


535 


the  same  open  water  over  which  we  had  seen  the  dark 
atmosphere  all  the  winter.  Only  when  we  came  up 
nearly  to  the  houses  did  he  inquire  more  particularly 
about  the  Fram  and  our  drifting,  and  I  briefly  told  him 
our  story.  He  told  me  afterwards  that  from  the  time  we 
met  he  had  believed  that  the  ship  had  been  destroyed, 
and  that  we  two  were  the  only  survivors  of  the  expedi- 
tion.     He  thought  he  had  seen  a  sad  expression  in  my 


MR.  Jackson's  station  at  cape  flora 


face  when  he  first  asked  about  the  ship,  and  was  afraid 
of  touching  on  the  subject  again.  Indeed,  he  had  even 
quietly  warned  his  men  not  to  ask.  It  was  only  through 
a  chance  remark  of  mine  that  he  found  out  his  mistake, 


536  FARTHEST  NORTH 

and  began  to  inquire  more  particularly  about  the  Fram 
and  the  others. 

"Then  we  arrived  at  the  house,  a  low  Russian  timber 
hut  lying  on  a  flat  terrace,  an  old  shore-line  beneath  the 
mountain,  and  50  feet  above  the  sea.  It  was  surrounded 
by  a  stable  and  four  circular  tent-houses,  in  which  stores 
were  kept.  We  entered  a  comfortable,  warm  nest  in  the 
midst  of  these  desolate,  wintry  surroundings,  the  roof 
and  walls  covered  with  green  cloth.  On  the  walls  hung 
photographs,  etchings,  photo  -  lithographs,  and  shelves 
everywhere,  containing  books  and  instruments;  under 
the  roof  clothes  and  shoes  hung  drying,  and  from  the 
little  stove  in  the  middle  of  the  floor  of  this  cozy  room 
the  warm  coal  fire  shone  out  a  hospitable  welcome. 
A  strange  feeling  came  over  me  as  I  seated  myself 
in  a  comfortable  chair  in  these  unwonted  surroundings. 
At  one  stroke  of  changing  fate  all  responsibility,  all 
troubles  were  swept  away  from  a  mind  that  had  been 
oppressed  by  them  during  three  long  years;  I  was  in 
a  safe  haven,  in  the  midst  of  the  ice,  and  the  longings 
of  three  years  were  lulled  in  the  golden  sunshine  of  the 
dawning  day.  My  duty  was  done ;  my  task  was  ended ; 
now  I  could  rest,  only  rest  and  wait. 

"A  carefully  soldered  tin  packet  was  handed  to  me; 
it  contained  letters  from  Norway.  It  was  almost  with 
a  trembling  hand  and  a  beating  heart  that  I  opened  it; 
and  there  were  tidings,  only  good  tidings,  from  home. 
A  delightful  feeling  of  peace  settled  upon  the  soul. 


NANSEN    AT    CAPE    FLORA 

{From  photografih  by  Mr.  Jackson) 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  539 

"  Then  dinner  was  served,  and  how  nice  it  was  to 
have  bread,  butter,  milk,  sugar,  coffee,  and  everything  that 
a  year  had  taught  us  to  do  without  and  yet  to  long  for  ! 
But  the  height  of  comfort  was  reached  when  we  were 
able  to  throw  off  our  dirty  rags,  have  a  warm  bath,  and 
get  rid  of  as  much  dirt  as  was  possible  in  one  bout ;  but 
we  only  succeeded  in  becoming  anything  like  clean  af- 
ter several  days  and  many  attempts.  Then  clean,  soft 
clothes  from  head  to  foot,  hair  cut,  and  the  shaggy 
beard  shaved  off,  and  the  transformation  from  savage 
to  European  was  complete,  and  even  more  sudden  than 
in  the  reverse  direction.  How  delightfully  comfortable 
it  was  to  be  able  to  put  on  one's  clothes  without  being 
made  greasy,  but,  most  of  all,  to  be  able  to  move  with- 
out feeling  them  stick  to  the  body  with  every  movement ! 

"  It  was  not  very  long  before  Johansen  and  the  others 
followed,  with  the  kayaks  and  our  things.  Johansen  re- 
lated how  these  warm-hearted  Englishmen  had  given 
him  and  the  Norwegian  flag  a  hearty  cheer  when  they 
came  up  and  saw  it  waving  beside  a  dirty  woollen  shirt 
on  a  bamboo  rod,  which  he  had  put  up  by  my  orders, 
so  that  I  could  find  my  way  back  to  him.  On  the  way 
hither  they  had  not  allowed  him  to  touch  the  sledges, 
he  had  only  to  walk  beside  them  like  a  passenger,  and 
he  said  that,  of  all  the  ways  in  which  we  had  travelled 
over  drift-ice,  this  was  without  comparison  the  most  com- 
fortable. His  reception  in  the  hut  was  scarcely  less  hos- 
pitable than  mine,  and  he  soon  went  through  the  same 


540  FARTHEST  NORTH 

transformation  that  I  had  undergone.  I  no  longer  rec- 
ognize my  comrade  of  the  long  winter  night,  and  search 
in  vain  for  any  trace  of  the  tramp  who  wandered  up  and 
down  that  desolate  shore,  beneath  the  steep  talus  and 
the  dark  basalt  cliff,  outside  the  low  underground  hut. 
The  black,  sooty  troglodyte  has  vanished,  and  in  his 
place  sits  a  well-favored,  healthy-looking  European  citi- 
zen in  a  comfortable  chair,  puffing  away  at  a  short  pipe 
or  a  cigar,  and  with  a  book  before  him,  doing  his  best 
to  learn  English.  It  seems  to  me  that  he  gets  fatter 
and  fatter  every  day,  with  an  almost  alarming  rapidity. 
It  is  indeed  surprising  that  we  have  both  gained  con- 
siderably in  weight  since  we  left  the  Fram.  When  I 
came  here  I  myself  weighed  about  14A  stone,  or  nearly 
22  pounds  more  than  I  did  when  I  left  the  Fram ;  while 
Johansen  weighs  over  1 1  stone  1 1  pounds,  having  gained 
a  little  more  than  13  pounds.  This  is  the  result  of  a 
winter's  feeding  on  nothing  but  bear's  meat  and  fat  in 
an  Arctic  climate.  It  is  not  quite  like  the  experiences 
of  others  in  parallel  circumstances ;  it  must  be  our  lazi- 
ness that  has  done  it.  And  here  we  are,  living  in  peace 
and  quietness,  waiting  for  the  ship  from  home  and  for 
what  the  future  will  bring  us,  while  everything  is  being 
done  for  us  to  make  us  forget  a  winter's  privations. 
We  could  not  have  fallen  into  better  hands,  and  it  is  im- 
possible to  describe  the  unequalled  hospitality  and  kind- 
ness we  meet  with  on  all  hands,  and  the  comfort  we  feel. 
Is  it  the  year's  privations  and  want  of  human  society,  is 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD 


541 


it  common  interests,  that  so  draw  us  to  these  men  in 
these  desolate  regions?  I  do  not  know  ;  but  we  are 
never  tired  of  talking,  and  it  seems  as  if  we  had  known 
one  another  for  years,  instead  of  having  met  for  the  first 
time  a  few  da3's  ago. 

"Wednesday,  June.  23d.     It  is  now  three  years  since 
we  left  home.     As  we  sat  at  the  dinner-table  this  even- 


A    CHAT    AFTER    DINNER 


ing,  Hayward,  the  cook,  came  rushing  in  and  said  there 
was  a  bear  outside.  We  went  out,  Jackson  with  his 
camera  and  I  with  my  rifle.  We  saw  the  head  of  the 
bear  above  the  edge  of  the  shore ;  it  was  sniffing  the  air 


542  FARTHEST   NORTH 

in  the  direction  of  the  hut,  while  a  couple  of  dogs  stood 
at  a  respectful  distance  and  barked.  As  we  approached, 
it  came  right  up  over  the  edge  to  us,  stopped,  showed 
its  teeth,  and  hissed,  then  turned  round  and  went  slow- 
ly back  down  towards  the  shore.  To  hinder  it  enough 
for  Jackson  to  get  near  and  photograph  it,  I  sent  a 
bullet  into  its  hind -quarters  as  it  disappeared  over  the 
edge.  This  helped,  and  a  ball  in  the  left  shoulder  still 
more.  Surrounded  by  a  few  dogs,  it  now  made  a  stand. 
The  dogs  grew  bolder,  and  a  couple  of  shots  in  the 
muzzle  from  Jackson's  revolver  made  the  bear  quite  fu- 
rious. It  sprang  first  at  one  dog,  '  Misere,'  caught  hold 
of  it  by  the  back,  and  flung  it  a  good  way  out  over  the 
ice,  then  sprang  at  the  other,  seizing  it  by  one  paw  and 
tearing  one  toe  badly.  It  then  found  an  old  tin  box, 
bit  it  flat,  and  flung  it  far  away.  It  was  wild  with  fury, 
but  a  ball  behind  the  ear  ended  its  sufferings.  It  was 
a  she  -  bear  with  milk  in  the  breast ;  but  there  was  no 
sign  of  any  embryo,  and  no  young  one  was  discovered 
in  the  neighborhood. 

"Sunday,  July  15th.  This  evening,  when  Jackson 
and  the  doctor  were  up  on  the  mountain  shooting  auks, 
the  dogs  began  to  make  a  tremendous  row  (especially 
the  bear -dog  '  Nimrod,'  which  is  chained  outside  the 
door),  and  howled  and  whined  in  a  suspicious  manner. 
Armitage  went  out,  coming  back  a  little  while  after  and 
asking  if  I  cared  to  shoot  a  bear.  I  accompanied  him 
with  my  rifle  and  camera.    The  bear  had  taken  flight  to  a 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD 


543 


little  hummock  out  on  the  ice  south  of  the  house,  and  was 
lying  at  full  length  on  the  top  of  it,  with  '  Misere'  and  a 
couple  of  puppies  round  it,  standing  at  a  little  distance 
and  barking  persistently.     As  we  approached  it  fled  over 


THE    WOUNDED    BEAR 


the  ice.  The  range  was  long,  but,  nevertheless,  we  sent 
a  few  shots  after  it,  thinking  we  might  perhaps  retard 
its  progress.  With  one  of  these  I  was  fortunate  enough 
to  hit  it  in  the  hind-quarters,  and  it  now  fled  to  a  new 
ice -hill.     Here   I  was  able  to  set  nearer  to  it.     It  was 


544  FARTHEST  NORTH 

evidently  very  much  enraged ;  and  when  I  came  under 
the  hummock  where  it  stood  it  showed  its  teeth  and 
hissed  at  me,  and  repeatedly  gave  signs  of  wanting  to 
jump  down  on  to  the  top  of  me.  On  these  occasions 
I  rapidly  got  ready  my  rifle  instead  of  the  camera.  It 
scraped  away  the  loose  snow  from  under  its  feet  to  get 
a  better  footing  for  the  leap  which,  however,  it  never 
took ;  and  I  re-exchanged  my  rifle  for  my  camera.  In 
the  meantime,  Jackson  had  arrived  with  his  camera  on 
the  other  side ;  and  when  we  had  taken  all  the  photo- 
graphs we  wanted  we  shot  the  bear.  It  was  an  un- 
usually large  she-bear." 

One  of  the  first  things  we  did  when  we  came  to 
Mr.  Jackson's  station  was  of  course  to  make  a  close 
comparison  of  our  watches  with  his  chronometer ;  and 
Mr.  Armitage  was  also  kind  enough  to  take  careful  time- 
observations  for  me.  It  now  appears  that  we  had  not 
been  so  far  out,  after  all.  We  had  put  our  watches 
about  26  minutes  wrong,  making  a  difference  of 
about  6i°  in  longitude.  A  protracted  comparison 
undertaken  by  Mr.  Armitage  also  showed  that  the 
escapement  of  our  watches  was  very  nearly  what  we 
had  assumed.  With  the  help  of  this  information  I  was 
now  enabled  to  work  out  our  longitude  observations 
pretty  correctly  ;  and  one  of  the  first  tasks  I  here  set 
about,  now  that  we  once  more  had  access  to  paper, 
writing  and  drawing  materials,  and  all  that  we  had  longed 
for    so    much    during    the    winter,    was    to    prepare    a 


JOHANSEN    AT    CAPE    FLORA 

(From  photograph  by  Mr.  Jacksoji) 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD 


547 


sketch-map  of  Franz  Josef  Land,  as  our  observations 
led  me  to  conclude  that  it  must  actually  be.  Mr.  Jack- 
son very  kindly  allowed  me  to  consult  the  map  he  had 
made  of  that  part  of  the  land  which  he  had  explored. 
This  enabled  me  to  dispense  with  the  labor  of  reckoning 


A    VISITOR 

(Instantaneous  Photograph) 

out  my  own  observations  in  these  localities.  Further- 
more, I  have  to  thank  Mr.  Jackson  for  aid  in  every 
possible  way,  with  navigation -tables,  nautical  almanac,* 
scales,  and  all  sorts  of  drawing  material. 

*  We  had  not  any  nautical  almanac  for  1896,  and  had  hitherto  used 
the  almanac  for  the  previous  year. 


548  FARTHEST  NORTH 

It  is  by  a  comparison  of  Payer's  map,  Jackson's  map, 
and  my  own  observations  that  I  have  made  out  the 
sketch  -  map  reproduced  on  page  599.  I  have  altered 
Payer's  and  Jackson's  map  only  at  places  where  my  ob- 
servations differ  essentially  from  theirs.  I  make  no  pre- 
tence to  give  more  than  a  provisional  sketch  ;  I  had  not 
even  time  to  work  out  my  own  observations  with  abso- 
lute accuracy.  When  this  has  been  clone,  and  if  I  can 
gain  access  to  all  Payer's  material,  no  doubt  a  consider- 
ably more  trustworthy  map  can  be  produced.  The  only 
importance  which  I  claim  for  the  accompanying  map 
is  that  it  shows  roughly  how  what  we  have  hitherto 
called  Franz  Josef  Land  is  cut  up  into  innumerable 
small  islands,  without  any  continuous  and  extensive 
mass  of  land.  Much  of  Payer's  map  I  found  to  coin- 
cide well  enough  with  our  observations.  But  the  enig- 
ma over  which  we  had  pondered  the  whole  winter  still 
remained  unsolved.  Where  was  Dove  Glacier  and  the 
whole  northern  part  of  Wilczek  Land }  Where  were 
the  islands  which  Payer  had  named  Braun  Island,  Hoff- 
mann Island,  and  Freeden  Island }  The  last  might, 
no  doubt,  be  identified  with  the  southernmost  island 
of  Hvidtenland  (White  Land),  but  the  others  had  com- 
pletely disappeared.  I  pondered  for  a  long  time  over 
the  question  how  such  a  mistake  could  have  crept 
into  a  map  by  such  a  man  as  Payer  —  an  experienced 
topographer,  whose  maps,  as  a  rule,  bear  the  stamp  of 
great    accuracy    and     care,    and    a    polar    traveller    for 


l^HE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  549 

whose  ability  I  have  always  entertained  a  high  respect. 
I  examined  his  account  of  his  voyage,  and  there  I  found 
that  he  expressly  mentions  that  during  the  time  he  was 
coastino;  along  this  Dove  Glacier  he  had  a  great  deal 
of  fog,  which  quite  concealed  the  land  ahead.  But  one 
day  (it  was  April  7,  1874)  he  says:*  "At  this  latitude 
(81°  23)  it  seemed  as  if  Wilczek  Land  suddenly  ter- 
minated, but  when  the  sun  scattered  the  driving  mists 
we  saw  the  glittering  ranges  of  its  enormous  glaciers — 
the  Dove  Glaciers — shining  down  on  us.  Towards  the 
northeast  we  could  trace  land  trending  to  a  cape  lying  in 
the  gray  distance:  Cape  Buda-Pesth,  as  it  was  after- 
wards called.  The  prospect  thus  opened  to  us  of  a  vast 
glacier  land  conflicted  with  the  general  impression  we 
had  formed  of  the  resemblance  between  the  newly  dis- 
covered region  and  Spitzbergen ;  for  glaciers  of  such 
extraordinary  magnitude  presuppose  the  existence  of  a 
country  stretching  far  into  the  interior." 

I  have  often  thought  over  this  description,  and  I 
cannot  find  in  Payer's  book  any  other  information  that 
throws  light  upon  the  mystery.  Although,  according  to 
this,  it  would  appear  as  if  they  had  had  clear  weather  that 
day,  there  must,  nevertheless,  have  been  fog-banks  lying 
over  Hvidtenland,  uniting  it  with  Wilczek  Land  to  the 
south  and  stretching  northward  towards  Crown  Prince 
Rudolf  Land.     The  sun  shining  on  these  fog-banks  must 

*  New  Lands  within  the  Arctie  Circle.     By  J.  Payer,  Vol.  II.,  p.  129. 


550  FARTHEST  NORTH 

have  glittered  so  that  they  were  taken  for  glaciers  along 
a  continuous  coast.  I  can  all  the  more  easily  understand 
this  mistake,  as  I  was  myself  on  the  point  of  falling  into 
it.  As  before  related,  if  the  weather  had  not  cleared  on 
the  evening  of  June  iith,  enabling  us  to  discern  the 
sound  between  Northbrook  Island  and  Peter  Head  (Al- 
exandra Land),  we  should  have  remained  under  the  im- 
pression that  we  had  here  continuous  land,  and  should 
have  represented  it  as  such  in  mapping  this  region. 

Mr.  Jackson  and  I  frequently  discussed  the  naming  of 
the  lands  we  had  explored.  I  asked  him  whether  he 
would  object  to  my  naming  the  land  on  which  I  had 
wintered  "  Frederick  Jackson's  Island,"  as  a  small  token 
of  our  gratitude  for  the  hospitality  he  had  shown  us. 
We  had  made  the  discovery  that  this  island  was  sepa- 
rated by  sounds  from  the  land  farther  north  which  Payer 
had  named  Karl  Alexander  Land.  For  the  rest,  I  re- 
frained from  giving  names  to  any  of  the  places  which 
Jackson  had  seen  before  I  saw  them. 

The  country  around  Cape  Flora  proved  to  be  very 
interesting  from  the  geological  point  of  view%  and  as 
often  as  time  permitted  I  investigated  its  structure, 
either  alone,  or  more  frequently  in  company  with  the 
doctor  and  geologist  of  the  English  expedition,  Dr. 
Koetlitz.  Many  an  interesting  excursion  did  we  make 
together  up  and  down  those  steep  moraines  in  search  of 
fossils,  which  in  certain  places  we  found  in  great  numbers. 
It  appeared   that  from  the  sea-level   up   to   a   height   of 


^ 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  553 

about  500  or  600  feet  the  land  consisted  of  a  soft  clay 
mixed  with  lumps  of  a  red-brown  clay  sandstone,  in  which 
lumps  the  fossils  chiefly  abounded.  But  the  earth  was 
so  o\'erstrewn  with  loose  stones,  w'hich  had  rolled  down 
from  the  basalt  walls  above,  that  it  was  difficult  to  reach 
it.  For  a  long  time  I  maintained  that  all  this  clay  was 
only  a  comparatively  late  strand  formation ;  but  the 
doctor  was  indefatigable  in  his  efforts  to  convince  me 
that  it  really  was  an  old  and  very  extensive  formation, 
stretching  right  under  the  superimposed  basalt.  At  last 
I  had  to  yield,  when  w^e  arrived  at  the  topmost  stratum 
of  the  clay  and  I  sa\v  it  actually  going  under  the  basalt, 
and  found  some  shallower  strata  of  basalt  lower  down  in 
the  clay.  An  examination  of  the  fossils,  which  consisted 
for  the  most  part  of  ammonites  and  belemnites,  convinced 
me  that  the  whole  of  this  clay  formation  must  date  from 
theur  Jassic  period.  At  several  places  Dr.  Koetlitz  had 
found  thin  strata  of  coal  in  the  clay.  Petrified  wood  was 
also  of  common  occurrence.  But  over  the  clay  forma- 
tion lay  a  mighty  bed  of  basalt  600  or  700  feet  in 
height,  which  was  certainly  not  the  least  interesting  feat- 
ure of  the  country.  It  was  distinguished  by  its  coarse- 
grained structure  from  the  majority  of  typical  basalts, 
and  seemed  to  be  closely  related  to  those  which  are 
found  in  Spitzbergen  and  Northeast  Land.'"^  The  ba- 
salt, however,  seems  to  vary  a  good  deal  in  appearance 

*  Where  they  are  generally  called  diabases. 


554  FARTHEST  NORTH 

here  in  Franz  Josef  Land.  That  which  we  found  farther 
north  —  for  example,  at  Cape  M'Chntock  and  on  Goose 
Island — was  considerably  more  coarse-grained  than  that 
which  we  found  here.  The  situation  of  the  basalt  here 
on   Northbrook   Island  and  the  surroundino;  islands  was 


(  Tt*-  ^taAjHJBggi^ 


BASALTIC    ROCK 

also  very  different  from  that  which  we  had  observed  far- 
ther north.  It  is  here  met  with,  as  a  rule,  only  at  a 
height  of  500  or  600  feet  above  the  sea,  while  on  the 
more  northerly  islands — from  81°  northward — it  reached 
right  to  the  shore.  Thus  it  dropped  in  an  almost  per- 
pendicular wall  straight  into  the  sea  at  Jackson's   Cape 


2'HE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  555 

Fisher,  in  8i  .  It  was  the  same  at  Cape  M'CHntock,  at 
our  winter  cabin,  at  the  headland  of  columnar  basalt 
where  we  passed  the  night  of  August  25,  1895,  ^^  Cape 
Clements  Markham,  and  at  the  sharp  point  of  rock  where 
we  landed  on  the  night  between  August  i6th  and  17th. 
The  structure  seemed  to  be  similar,  too,  so  far  as  we  had 
seen,  on  the  south  side  of  Crown  Prince  Rudolf's  Land. 
Wherever  we  had  been  to  the  northward  I  had  kept  a 
sharp  lookout  for  strata  whose  fossils  could  give  us  any 
information  as  to  the  geological  age  of  this  country. 
According  to  what  I  here  found  at  Cape  Flora,  it  ap- 
peared as  if  a  great  part  at  least  of  this  basalt  dated  from 
the  Jurassic  period,  as  it  lay  immediately  above,  and  was 
partly  intermixed  with,  strata  of  this  age.  Moreover,  on 
the  top  of  the  basalt,  as  will  presently  appear,  vegetable 
fossils  were  found  dating  from  the  later  part  of  the 
Jurassic  period.  It  thus  seems  as  though  Franz  Josef 
Land  were  of  a  comparatively  old  formation.  All  these 
horizontal  strata  of  basalt,  stretching  over  all  the  islands 
at  about  the  same  height,  seem  to  indicate  that  there  was 
once  a  continuous  mass  of  land  here,  which  in  the  course 
of  time,  being  exposed  to  various  disintegrating  forces, 
such  as  frost,  damp,  snow,  glaciers,  and  the  sea,  has  been 
split  up  and  worn  away,  and  has  in  part  disappeared 
under  the  sea,  so  that  now  only  scattered  islands  and 
rocks  remain,  separated  from  each  other  by  fjords  and 
sounds.  As  these  formations  bear  a  certain  resemblance 
to  what  has  been  found  in  several  places  in  Spitzbergen 


556  FARTHEST  NORTH 

and  Northeast  Land,  we  may  plausibly  assume  that  these 
two  groups  of  islands  originally  belonged  to  the  same  mass 
of  land.  It  would  therefore  be  interesting  to  investis^ate 
the  as  yet  unknown  region  which  separates  them,  the 
region  which  we  should  have  had  to  traverse  had  we  not 
fallen  in  with  Jackson  and  his  expedition.  There  is  doubt- 
less much  that  is  new,  and  especially  many  new  islands, 
to  be  found  in  this  strait — possibly  a  continuous  series 
of  islands,  so  that  there  may  be  some  difficulty  in  de- 
termining where  the  one  archipelago  ends  and  the  other 
begins.  The  investigation  of  this  region  is  a  problem 
of  no  small  scientific  importance,  which  we  may  hope 
that  the  Jackson-Harmsworth  expedition  will  succeed  in 
solving. 

How  far  the  Franz  Josef  Land  archipelago  stretches 
towards  the  north  cannot  as  yet  be  determined  with 
certainty.  According  to  our  experience,  indeed,  it 
would  seem  improbable  that  there  is  land  of  any  great 
extent  in  that  direction.  It  is  true  that  Payer,  when  he 
was  upon  Crown  Prince  Rudolfs  Land,  saw  Petermann's 
Land  and  Oscar's  Land,  the  first  to  the  north  and  the 
second  to  the  west ;  but  that  Petermann's  Land,  at  any 
rate,  cannot  be  of  any  size  seems  to  be  proved  by  our 
observations,  since  we  saw  no  land  at  all  as  we  came 
southward  a  good  way  east  of  it,  and  the  ice  seemed 
to  drift  to  the  westward  practically  unimpeded  when 
we  were  in  its  latitude.  That  King  Oscar's  Land  also 
cannot   be    of   any  great    extent   seems    to    me    evident 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  557 

from  what  we  saw  in  the  course  of  the  winter  and 
spring,  as  the  wind  swept  the  ice  unhindered  away 
from  the  land,  so  that  there  can  scarcely  be  any 
extensive  and  continuous  mass  of  land  to  the  north  or 
northwest  to  keep  it  back. 

It  is,  perhaps,  even  more  difficult  to  determine  how 
far  the  F'ranz  Josef  Land  archipelago  stretches  to  the 
eastward.  From  all  we  saw,  I  should  judge  that 
Wilczek  Land  cannot  be  of  any  great  extent ;  but 
there  may  nevertheless  be  new  islands  farther  to  the 
east.  This  seems  probable,  indeed,  from  the  fact  that 
in  June  and  July,  1895,  we  remained  almost  motionless 
at  about  82°  5'  north  latitude,  in  spite  of  a  long  con- 
tinuance of  northerly  winds ;  whence  it  seemed  that 
there  must  be  a  stretch  of  land  south  of  us  obstructincj, 
like  a  long  w^all,  the  farther  drift  of  the  ice  to  the  south- 
ward. But  it  is  useless  to  discuss  this  question  minutely 
here,  as  it,  too,  will  doubtless  be  answered  authoritative- 
ly by  the  English  expedition. 

Another  feature  of  Northbrook  Island  which  greatly 
interested  me  was  the  evidence  it  presented  of  changes 
in  the  level  of  the  sea.  I  have  already  mentioned  that 
Jackson's  hut  lay  on  an  old  strand-line  or  terrace  about 
from  40  to  50  feet  high,  but  there  were  also  several 
other  f,trand-lines,  both  lower  and  higher.  Thus  I  found 
that  Leigh  Smith,  who  also  had  wintered  on  this  head- 
land, had  built  his  hut  upon  an  old  strand-line  17  feet 
above  the  sea-level,  while  at  other  places  I  found  strand- 


558  FARTHEST  NORTH 

lines  at  a  height  of  80  feet,  I  had  already  noticed  such 
strand  -  lines  at  different  elevations  when  I  first  arrived 
in  the  previous  autumn  at  the  more  northern  part  of 
this  region  (for  example,  on  Torup's  Island).  Indeed, 
we  had  lived  all  winter  on  such  a  terrace. 

Jackson  had  found  whales'  skeletons  at  several  places 
about  Cape  Flora.  Close  to  his  hut,  for  instance,  at  a 
height  of  50  feet,  there  lay  the  skull  of  a  whale,  a  balcrna, 
possibly  a  Greenland  whale  {Balcena  mysticetus?).  At 
a  point  farther  north  there  lay  fragments  of  a  whole 
skeleton,  probably  of  the  same  species.  The  underjaw 
was  18  feet  3  inches  long;  but  these  bones  lay  at  an 
elevation  of  not  more  than  9  feet  above  the  present  sea- 
level.  I  also  found  other  indications  that  the  sea  must 
at  a  comparatively  recent  period  have  risen  above  these 
low  strand  -  terraces.  For  instance,  they  were  at  many 
points  strewn  with  mussel-shells.  This  land,  then,  seems 
to  have  been  subjected  to  changes  of  level  analogous  to 
those  which  have  occurred  in  other  northern  countries, 
of  which,  as  above  mentioned,  I  had  also  seen  indica- 
tions on  the  north  coast  of  Asia. 

One  day  when  Mr.  Jackson  and  Dr.  Koetlitz  were 
out  on  an  excursion  together  they  found  on  a  "  nunatak," 
or  spur  of  rock,  projecting  above  a  glacier  on  the  north 
side  of  Cape  Flora,  two  places  which  were  strewn  with 
vegetable  fossils.  This  discovery,  of  course,  aroused 
my  keenest  interest,  and  on  July  17th  Dr.  Koetlitz 
and  I  set  out  for  the  spot  together.     The  spur  of  rock 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  559 

consisted  entirely  of  basalt,  at  some  points  showing  a 
marked  columnar  structure,  and  projected  in  the  niiddle 
of  the  o'lacier,  at  a  height  which  I  estimated  at  600  or 
joo  feet   above    the   sea.      Unfortunately,  there   was   no 


A    STRANGE    ROCK    OF    BASALT 

time  to  measure  its  elevation  exactly.  At  two  points  on 
the  surface  of  the  basalt  there  was  a  layer  consisting  of 
innumerable  fragments  of  sandstone.  In  almost  every 
one  of  these  impressions  were  to  be  found,  for  the  most 
part,  of  the  needles  and  leaves  of  pine-trees,  but  also  of 
small  fern-leaves.  We  picked  up  as  many  of  these  treas- 
ures as  we  could  carry,  and  returned  that  evening  heavily 
laden  and  in  high  contentment.     On  a  snow-shoe  excur- 


56o  FARTHEST  NORTH 

sion  some  days  later  Johansen  also  chanced  unwittingly 
upon  the  same  place,  and  gathered  fossils,  which  he 
brought  to  me.  Since  my  return  home  this  collection  of 
vegetable  fossils  has  been  examined  by  Professor  Na- 
thorst,  and  it  appears  that  Mr.  Jackson  and  Dr.  Koetlitz 
have  here  made  an  extremely  interesting  find. 

Professor  Nathorst  writes  to  me  as  follows:  "In 
spite  of  their  very  fragmentary  condition  the  vegetable 
fossils  brought  home  by  you  are  of  great  interest,  as 
they  give  us  our  first  insight  into  the  plant-world  in 
regions  north  of  the  eightieth  degree  of  latitude  during 
the  latter  part  of  the  Jurassic  period.  The  most  common 
are  leaves  of  a  fir-tree  {Pinus)  which  resembles  the  Piims 
Nordenskwldi  (Heer)  found  in  the  Jurassic  strata  of 
Spitzbergen,  East  Siberia,  and  Japan,  but  which  proba- 
bly belongs  to  a  different  species.  There  occur  also 
narrower  leaves  of  another  species,  and  furthermore 
male  flowers  and  fragments  of  a  pine  cone  *  with  several 
seeds  (Figs.  1-3),  one  of  which  (Fig.  i)  suggests  die 
Pinus  Maakiana  (Heer)  from  the  Jurassic  strata  of 
Siberia.  Among  traces  of  other  pine  -  trees  may  be 
mentioned  those  of  a  broad-leaved  Taxiies,  resembling 
Taxites  graminetis  (Heer),  specially  found  in  the  Jurassic 
strata  of   Spitzbergen   and   Siberia,  which   has   leaves  of 

*  Leigh  Smith  had  already  brought  back  from  Spitzbergen  a  fossil 
cone,  which  Carruthers  classified  as  a  Pinus ;  but  he  regarded  it  as  belong- 
ing to  the  upper  part  of  the  cretaceous  system. 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD 


561 


about  the  same  size  as  those  of  the  Cephalotaxiis  Fortunei, 
at  present  existing  in  China  and  Japan.  It  is  interest- 
ing, too,  to  find  remains  of  the  genus  Feildeuia  (Figs.  4 
and  5),  which  has  as  yet  been  found  only  in  the  polar 
reo^ions.  It  was  first  discovered  bv  Nordenskiold  in  the 
Tertiary  strata  near  Cape  Staratschin,  on  Spitzbergen,  in 


PLANT    FOSSILS 


1868,  and  was  described  by  Heer  under  the  name  of 
Torellia.  It  was  subsequently  found  by  Feilden  in  the 
Tertiary  strata  at  Discovery  Bay,  in  Grinnell  Land, 
during  the  English  Polar  Expedition  of  1875-76;  and 
Heer  now  changed  the  generic  name  to  Feildeuia,  as 
Torellia  had  already  been  employed  as  the  name  of  a 
mussel.  This  species  has  since  been  found  by  me  in 
1882  in  the  Upper  Jurassic  strata  of  Spitzbergen.  The 
leaves  remind  one  of  the  leaves  of  the  subspecies  nageia 
of  the  existing  genus  Podocarptis. 

"The  finest  specimens  of  the  whole  collection  are  the 
leaves  of  a  small  Gingko,  of  which  one  is  complete  (Fig. 
6).      This   genus,  with   plum-like    seeds  and  with   leaves 

IL— 36 


562  FARTHEST  NORTH 

which,  unlike  those  of  other  pine-trees,  have  a  real  leaf- 
blade,  is  found  at  present,  in  one  single  species  only, 
in  Japan,  but  existed  in  former  times  in  numerous  forms 
and  in  many  regions.  During  the  Jurassic  period  it 
flourished  especially  in  East  Siberia,  and  has  also  been 
found  on  Spitzbergen,  in  East  Greenland  (at  Scoresby 
Sound),  and  at  many  places  in  Europe,  etc.  During  the 
Cretaceous  and  the  Tertiary  periods  it  was  still  found  on 
the  west  coast  of  Greenland  at  70°  north  latitude.  The 
leaf  here  reproduced  belongs  to  a  new  species,  which 
might  be  called  Gingko  polaris,  and  which  is  most  closely 
related  to  the  G.flabellata  (Heer)  from  the  Jurassic  strata 
of  Siberia.  It  bears  a  certain  habitual  resemblance  to 
Gingko  digitata  (Lindley  and  Hutton),  particularly  as 
found  in  the  brown  Jurassic  strata  of  England  and 
Spitzbergen ;  but  its  leaves  are  considerably  smaller. 
Besides  this  species,  one  or  two  others  may  also  occur 
in  this  collection,  as  well  as  fragments  of  the  leaves  of 
the  genus  Czckanowskia,  related  to  the  Gingko  family, 
but  with  narrow  leaf-blades  resembling  pine-needles. 

"  Ferns  are  very  scantily  represented.  Such  frag- 
ments as  there  are  belong  to  four  different  types ;  but 
the  species  can  scarcely  be  determined.  One  fragment 
belongs  to  the  genus  Cladophlebis,  common  in  Jurassic 
strata;  another  suggests  the  Thyrsopteris.  found  in  the 
Jurassic  strata  of  East  Siberia  and  of  England;  a  third 
suggests  the  Onychiopsis  characteristic  of  the  Upper  Juras- 
sic strata.     The  fourth,  again,  seems  to  be  closely  related 


THE  JOURXEY  SOUTHWARD  5^3 

to  the  Asplenmm  {Petruschinciise),  which  Heer  has  de- 
scribed, found  in  the  Siberian  Jurassic  strata.  The  speci- 
men is  remarkable  from  the  fact  that  the  epidermis  cells 
of  the  leaf  have  left  a  clear  impression  on  the  rock. 

^'  With  its  wealth  of  pine  leaves,  its  poverty  of  ferns, 
and  its  lack  of  Cycadacar,  this  Franz  Josef  Land  flora  has 
somewhat  the  same  character  as  that  of  the  Upper  Juras- 
sic flora  of  Spitzbergen,  although  the  species  are  some- 
what different.  Like  the  Spitzbergen  flora,  it  does  not 
indicate  a  particularly  genial  climate,  although  doubtless 
enormously  more  so  than  that  of  the  present  day.  The 
deposits  must  doubtless  have  occurred  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  a  pine  forest.  So  far  as  the  specimens  enable 
one  to  judge,  the  flora  seems  to  belong  rather  to  the 
Upper  (White)  Jurassic  system  than  to  the  Middle 
(Brown)  system." 

It  was  undeniably  a  sudden  transition  to  come  straight 
from  our  long  inert  life  in  our  winter  lair,  where  ones 
scientific  interests  found  little  enough  stimulus,  right 
into  the  midst  of  this  scientific  oasis,  where  there  was 
plenty  of  opportunity  for  work,  where  books  and  all  nec- 
essary apparatus  were  at  hand,  and  where  one  could  em- 
ploy one's  leisure  moments  in  discussing  with  men  of 
similar  tastes  all  sorts  of  scientific  questions  connected 
with  the  Arctic  zone.  In  the  botanist  of  the  expedition, 
Mr.  Harry  Fisher,  I  found  a  man  full  of  the  warmest  in- 
terest in  the  fauna  and  tlora  of  the  polar  regions,  and  the 


564  FARTHEST  NORTH 

exhaustive  investigations  which  his  residence  here  has 
enabled  him  to  make  into  the  plant-Hfe  and  animal-Hfe 
(especially  the  former)  of  the  locality,  both  by  sea  and 
land,  will  certainly  augment  in  a  most  valuable  degree 
our  knowledge  of  its  biological  conditions.  I  shall  not 
easily  forget  the  many  pleasant  talks  in  which  he  com- 
municated to  me  his  discoveries  and  observations.  They 
were  all  eagerly  absorbed  by  a  mind  long  deprived  of 
such  sustenance.  I  felt  like  a  piece  of  parched  soil 
drinking  in  rain  after  a  drouth  of  a  whole  year. 

But  other  diversions  were  also  available.  If  my 
brain  grew  fatigued  with  unwonted  labor,  I  could  set 
off  with  Jackson  for  the  top  of  the  moraine  to  shoot 
auks,  which  swarmed  under  the  basalt  walls.  They 
roosted  in  hundreds  and  hundreds  on  the  shelves  and 
ledges  above  us ;  at  other  places  the  kittiwakes  brooded 
on  their  nests.  It  was  a  refreshing  scene  of  life  and 
activity.  As  we  stood  up  there  at  a  height  of  500  feet, 
and  could  look  far  out  over  the  sea,  the  auks  flew  in 
swarms  backward  and  forward  over  our  heads,  and  every 
now  and  then  we  would  knock  over  one  or  two  as 
they  passed.  Every  time  a  gun  was  fired  the  report 
echoed  through  all  the  rocky  clefts,  and  thousands  of 
birds  flew  shrieking  down  from  the  ledges.  It  seemed 
as  though  a  blast  of  wind  had  swept  a  great  dust-cloud 
down  from  the  crest  above ;  but  little  by  little  they  re- 
turned to  their  nests,  many  of  them  meanwhile  falling  to 
our  guns.   Jackson  had  here  a  capital  larder,  and  he  made 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD 


565 


ample  use  of  it.  Almost  every  day  he  was  up  under  the 
rock  shooting  auks,  which  formed  a  dail)-  dish  at  dinner. 
In  the  autumn  great  stores  of  them  were  laid  in  to  last 
through  the  winter.     At  other  times  Jackson   and  Blom- 


KITTIWAKE    ON   HER    NEST 


qvist  would  go  up  and  gather  eggs.  They  dragged  a 
ladder  up  with  them,  and  by  its  aid  Jackson  clambered 
up  the  perpendicular  cliffs.  This  egg-hunting  among  the 
loose  basalt  cliffs,  where  the  stones  were  perpetually  slip- 
ping away  from  under  one,  appeared  to  me  such  dare- 
devil work  that  I  was  chary  in  taking  part  in  it.  Far  be 
it  from  me  to  deny,  however,  that  the  eggs  made  delicious 
eating,  whether  we  had  them   soft-boiled  for  breakfast  or 


566  FARTHEST  NORTH 

made  into  pancakes  for  dinner.  It  was  remarkable  how 
entirely  I  had  got  out  of  training  for  climbing  in  precipi- 
tous places.  I  well  remember  that  the  first  time  I  went 
up  the  moraine  with  Jackson  I  had  to  stop  and  take 
breath  every  hundred  paces  or  so.  This  was,  no  doubt, 
due  to  our  long  inactivity ;  perhaps,  too,  I  had  become 
somewhat  anaemic  during  the  winter  in  our  lair.  But 
there  was  more  than  that  in  it ;  the  very  height  and  steep- 
ness made  me  uneasy  ;  I  was  inclined  to  turn  dizzy,  and 
had  great  difficulty  in  coming  down  again,  preferring,  if 
possible,  simply  to  sit  down  and  slide.  After  a  while 
this  passed  off  a  little,  and  I  became  more  accustomed  to 
the  heights  again.  I  also  became  less  short-winded,  and 
at  last  I  could  climb  almost  like  a  normal  human  beins:. 
In  the  meantime  the  days  wore  on,  and  still  we  saw 
nothing  of  the  Windward.  Johansen  and  I  began  to 
get  a  little  impatient.  We  discussed  the  possibility  that 
the  ship  might  not  make  its  way  through  the  ice,  and 
that  we  should  have  to  winter  here,  after  all.  This 
idea  was  not  particularly  attractive  to  us — to  be  so  near 
home  and  yet  not  to  reach  home.  We  regretted  that 
we  had  not  at  once  pushed  on  for  Spitzbergen ;  per- 
haps we  should  by  this  time  have  reached  the  much- 
talked-of  sloop.  When  we  came  to  think  of  it,  why  on 
earth  had  we  stopped  here  ?  That  was  easily  explained. 
These  people  were  so  kind  and  hospitable  to  us  that 
it  would  have  been  more  than  Spartan  had  we  been 
able  to  resist  their  amiability.     And  then  we  had  gone 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD 


567 


BASALTIC    CLIFFS 


through  a  good  deal  before  we  arrived,  and  here  was  a 
warm,  cozy  nest,  where  we  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  sit 
down  and  wait.  Waiting,  however,  is  not  always  the 
easiest  of  work,  and  we  began  seriously  to  think  of  set- 
ting off  again  for  Spitzbergen.     But  had  we  not  delayed 


568  FARTHEST  NORTH 

too  long?  It  was  the  middle  of  July,  and  although  we 
should  probably  get  on  quickly  enough,  we  might  meet 
with  unexpected  impediments,  and  it  might  take  us  a 
month  or  more  to  reach  the  waters  in  which  we  could 
hope  to  find  a  ship.  That  would  bring  us  to  the  middle 
or  perhaps  to  the  end  of  August,  by  which  time  the 
sloops  had  begun  to  make  for  home.  If  we  did  not 
come  across  one  at  once,  when  we  got  into  September 
it  would  be  difficult  enough  to  get  hold  of  one,  and  then 
we  should  perhaps  be  in  for  another  winter  of  it,  after 
all.  No,  it  was  best  to  remain  here,  for  there  was  every 
chance  that  the  ship  would  make  its  appearance.  The 
best  time  for  navigating  these  waters  is  August  and  the 
beginning  of  September,  when  there  is  generally  the 
least  ice.  We  must  trust  to  that,  and  let  the  time  pass 
as  best  it  might.  There  were  others  than  we  who 
waited  impatiently  for  the  ship.  Four  members  of  the 
English  expedition  were  also  to  go  home  in  her,  after 
two  years'  absence. 

"  Monda}^  July  20th.  We  begin  to  get  more  and 
more  impatient  for  the  arrival  of  the  vessel,  but  the  ice 
is  still  tolerably  thick  here.  Jackson  says  that  she  should 
have  been  here  by  the  middle  of  June,  and  thinks  that 
there  has  several  times  been  sufficiently  open  water  for 
her  to  have  got  through ;  but  I  have  my  doubts  about 
that.  Though  only  a  little  scattered  ice  is  to  be  seen 
here,  even  from  a  height  of  500  feet,  that  does  not  mean 
much ;  there   may  be   more  ice   farther    south   blocking 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD 


569 


the  way.  One  day  Jackson  and  the  doctor  were  on  the 
top  of  the  mountain  here,  and  from  that  point,  too,  there 
seemed  to  be  very  Httle  ice  in  the  south  ;  but  I  am  not 
convinced  any  the  more.  I  think  all  experience  goes  to 
show  that  there  must  still  be  plenty  of  ice  in  the  sea  to 
the  south.     What  Mr.  Jackson  says  about  the  VVimhvard 


MR.    JACKSON    AT    ELMWOOD 


having  been  able  to  get  through  as  early  as  July  last 
year  without  needing  to  touch  the  ice,  adding  that  then, 
too,  there  was  no  ice  to  be  seen  from  here,  I  do  not  find 
at  all  conclusive.  During  the  last  few  days  more  ice 
has  again  come  drifting  in  from  the  east.  I  long  to 
get  away.     What  if  we  are  shut  in  here  all  the  winter.? 


570  FARTHEST  NORTH 

Then  we  shall  have  done  wrong  in  stopping  here.  Why 
did  we  not  continue  our  journey  to  Spitzbergen  ?  We 
should  have  been  at  home  by  now.  The  eye  wanders 
out  over  the  boundless  white  plain.  Not  one  dark 
streak  of  water  —  ice,  ice!  —  shut  out  from  the  world, 
from  the  throbbing  life,  the  life  that  we  believed  to  be 
so  near. 

"  Low  down  on  the  horizon  there  is  a  strip  of  blue- 
gray  cloud.  Far,  far  away  beyond  the  ice  there  is  open 
water,  and  perhaps  there,  rocked  on  long  swelling  billows 
from  the  great  ocean,  lies  the  vessel  which  is  to  bear  us 
to  the  familiar  shores,  the  vessel  which  brinos  tidino-s 
from  home  and  from  those  we  love. 

"  Dream,  dream  of  home  and  beauty !  Stray  bird, 
here  among  the  ice  and  snow  you  will  seek  for  them  all 
in  vain.     Dream  the  golden  dream  of  future  reunion  ! 

"Tuesday,  July  21st.  Have  at  last  got  a  good  wind 
from  the  north  which  is  sending  the  ice  out  to  sea. 
There  is  nothing  but  open  sea  to  be  seen  this  evening ; 
now  perhaps  there  is  hope  of  soon  seeing  the  vessel. 

"  Wednesday,  July  2 2d.  Continual  changes  and  con- 
tinual disappointments.  Yesterday  hope  was  strong ; 
to-day  the  wind  has  changed  to  the  southeast,  and 
driven  the  ice  in  again.  We  may  still  have  to  wait  a 
long  time. 

"Sunday,  July  26th.  The  vessel  has  come  at  last.  I 
was  awakened  this  morning  by  feeling  some  one  pull  my 
legs.     It  was  Jackson,  who,  with  beaming  countenance, 


JOHANSEN  IN  JACKSON  S  SALOON 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  573 

announced  that  the  Windward  had  come.  I  jumped  u}) 
and  looked  out  of  the  window.  There  she  was,  just  be- 
yond the  edge  of  the  ice,  steaming  slowly  in  to  find  an 
anchorage.  Wonderful  to  see  a  ship  again  !  How  high 
the  rio-o-ino-  seemed,  and  the  hull !  It  was  like  an  island. 
There  would  be  tidings  on  board  from  the  great  world 
far  beyond." 

There  was  a  great  stir.  Every  man  was  up,  arra}'ed  in 
the  most  wonderful  costumes,  to  gaze  out  of  the  window. 
Jackson  and  Blomqvist  rushed  off  as  soon  as  they  had 
got  on  their  clothes.  As  I  scarcely  had  anything  to  do 
on  board  at  present  I  went  to  bed  again,  but  it  was  not 
long  before  Blomqvist  came  panting  back,  sent  by  the 
thoughtful  Jackson,  to  say  that  all  was  well  at  home,  and 
that  nothing  had  been  heard  of  the  Fram.  This  was  the 
first  thing  Jackson  had  asked  about.  I  felt  my  heart 
as  light  as  a  feather.  He  said,  too,  that  when  Jackson 
had  told  the  men  who  had  come  to  meet  him  on  the  ice 
about  us  and  our  journey,  they  had  greeted  the  intelli- 
gence with  three  hearty  cheers. 

I  had  hardly  slept  two  hours  that  night,  and  not  much 
more  the  night  before.  I  tried  to  sleep,  but  there  was 
no  rest  to  be  had;  I  might  just  as  well  dress  and  go  on 
board.  As  I  drew  near  the  vessel  I  was  ijreeted  with 
ringing  cheers  by  the  whole  crew  gathered  on  the  deck, 
where  I  was  heartily  received  by  the  excellent  Captain 
Brown,  commander  of  the  JVmdward ;  by  Dr.  Bruce  and 
Mr.    Wilton,    who    were  both    to  winter    with    Jackson, 


574  FARTHES2'  NORTH 

and  by  the  ship's  company.  We  went  below  into  the 
roomy,  snug  cabin,  and  all  kinds  of  news  were  eagerly 
swallowed  by  listening  ears,  while  an  excellent  breakfast 
with  fresh  potatoes  and  other  delicacies  glided  down  past 
a  palate  which  needed  less  than  that  to  satisfy  it.  There 
were  remarkable  pieces  of  news  indeed.  One  of  the  first 
was  that  now  they  could  photograph  people  through 
doors  several  inches  thick.  I  confess  I  pricked  up  my 
ears  at  this  information.  That  they  could  photograph 
a  bullet  buried  in  a  person's  body  was  wonderful  too, 
but  nothing  to  this.  And  then  we  heard  that  the 
Japanese  had  thrashed  the  Chinese,  and  a  good  deal 
more.  Not  least  remarkable,  we  thought,  was  the  in- 
terest which  the  whole  world  now  seemed  to  take  in 
the  Arctic  regions.  Spitzbergen  had  become  a  tour- 
ist country ;  a  Norwegian  steamship  company  (the 
Vesteraalen)  had  started  a  regular  passenger  service 
to  it,*  a  hotel  had  been  built  up  there,  and  there  was 
a  post-office  and  a  Spitzbergen  stamp.  And  then  we 
heard  that  Andree  was  there  waiting  for  wind  to  go  to 
the  Pole  in  a  balloon.  If  we  had  pursued  our  course  to 
Spitzbergen  we  should  thus  have  dropped  into  the  very 
middle  of  all  this.  We  should  have  found  a  hotel  and 
tourists,  and  should  have  been  brought  home  in  a  com- 
fortable modern  steamboat,  very  different  from  the  whal- 
ing-sloop we   had   been  talking  of  all   the   winter,  and, 

*  I  did  not  dream  that  Sverdrup  a  year  after  would  be  in  command  of 
this  steamer. 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  575 

indeed,  all  the  previous  year.  People  are  apt  to  think 
that  it  would  be  amusing  to  see  themselves,  and  I  form 
no  exception  to  this  rule.  I  would  have  given  a  good 
deal  to  see  us  in  our  unwashed,  unsophisticated  condition, 
as  we  came  out  of  our  winter  lair,  plumping  into  the 
middle  of  a  band  of  English  tourists,  male  and  female. 
I  doubt  whether  there  would  then  have  been  much  em- 
bracing or  shaking"  of  hands,  but  I  don't  doubt  that  there 
would  have  been  a  great  deal  of  peering  through  venti- 
lators or  any  other  loophole  that  could  have  been  found. 

The  Windward  had  left  London  on  June  9th,  and 
\^ardo  on  the  25th.  They  had  brought  four  reindeer 
with  them  for  Jackson,  but  no  horses,  as  he  had  expected.* 
One  reindeer  had  died  on  the  voyage. 

Every  one  \vas  now  busily  employed  in  unlading  the 
Windward,  and  bringing  to  land  the  supplies  of  pro- 
visions, coal,  reindeer-moss,  and  other  such  things  which 
it  had  brought  for  the  expedition.  Both  the  ships  crew 
and  the  members  of  the  English  expedition  took  part  in 
this  work,  which  proceeded  rapidly,  and  had  soon  made 
a  level  road  over  the  uneven  ice ;  and  now  load  after  load 
was  driven  on  sledges  to  land.  In  less  than  a  week  Cap- 
tain Brown  was  ready  to  start  for  home,  and  only  awaited 
Jackson's  letters  and  telegrams.  They  took  a  few  more 
days,  and  then  everything  was  ready.     In  the  meantime, 


*  Jackson  had  brought  with  him  several  Russian  horses,  which  he  had 
used  along  with  dogs  on  his  sledge  expeditions.  Only  one  of  these  horses 
was  aliv'e  at  the  time  of  our  arrival. 


576         •  FARl^HEST  NORTH 

however,  a  gale  had  sprung  up,  blowing  on  the  shore, 
the  Windward' s  moorings  at  the  edge  of  the  ice  had 
given  way,  she  was  set  adrift  and  obliged  to  seek  a  haven 
farther  in,  where,  however,  it  was  so  shallow  that  there 
was  only  one  or  two  feet  of  water  beneath  her  keel. 
Meanwhile,  the  wind  drove  the  ice  in,  the  navigable 
water  closed  in  all  round  it  outside,  and  the  floes  were 
continually  drawing  nearer.  For  a  time  the  situation 
looked  anything  but  pleasant ;  but  fortunately  the  ice  did 
not  reach  the  vessel,  and  she  thus  escaped  being  screwed 
out  of  the  water.  After  a  delay  of  a  couple  of  days  on 
this  account  the  vessel  got  out  again. 

And  now  we  were  to  bid  adieu  to  this  last  station 
on  our  route,  where  we  had  met  with  such  a  cordial 
and  hospitable  reception.  A  feverish  energy  came  over 
the  little  colony.  Those  who  were  going  home  had  to 
make  themselves  ready  for  the  voyage,  and  those  who 
were  to  remain  had  to  bring  their  letters  and  other 
things  on  board.  This,  however,  was  sui^ciently  dif^- 
cult.  The  vessel  lay  waiting  impatiently  and  incessant- 
ly sounding  her  steam-whistle ;  and  a  quantity  of  loose 
ice  had  packed  itself  together  outside  the  edge  of  the 
shore  -  ice,  so  that  it  was  not  easy  to  move.  At  last, 
however,  those  who  were  to  remain  had  gone  on  shore, 
and  we  who  were  going  home  were  all  on  board — that 
is  to  say,  Mr.  Fisher,  the  botanist;  Mr.  Child,  the  chemist; 
Mr.  Burgess;  and  the  Finn,  Blomqvist,  of  the  English 
expedition,  along   with   Johansen    and   myself.      As    the 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD 


S77 


sun  burst  through  the  clouds  above  Cape  Flora  we 
Avaved  our  hats,  and  sent  our  last  cheer  as  a  farewell  to 
the  six  men  standing  like  a  little  dark  spot  on  the  floe 
in  that  great  icy  solitude ;  and  under  full  sail  and  steam 
we  set  out  on  August  7th,  with  a  fair  wind,  over  the  un- 
dulating surface  of  the  ocean,  towards  the  south. 

Fortune  favored  us.      On  her  northward  voyage  the 
Windward  had  much  and  difficult  ice   to  combat  with 


.g^^iiT^^ 


LJ^-«^- 


^  «W>|f|fgjg|A. 


CAPE  FLORA.   FAREWELL  TO  FRANZ  JOSEF  LAND 


before  she  at  last  broke  through  and  came  in  to  land. 
Now,  too,  we  met  a  quantity  of  ice,  but  it  was  slack  and 
comparatively  easy  to  get  through.  We  were  stopped 
in    a   few    places,    and    had    to    break    a    way    through 


11.-37 


578  FARTHEST  NORTH 

with  the  engine ;  but  the  ship  was  in  good  hands. 
From  his  long  experience  as  a  whaler,  Captain  Brown 
knew  well  how  to  contend  with  greater  odds  than  the 
thin  ice  we  met  with  here — the  only  ice  that  is  found  in 
this  sea.  From  morning  till  night  he  sat  up  in  the  crow's- 
nest  as  long  as  there  was  a  bit  of  ice  in  the  water.  He 
gave  himself  little  time  for  sleep ;  the  point  was,  as  he 
often  said  to  me,  to  bring  us  home  before  the  Fram 
arrived,  for  he  understood  well  what  a  blow  it  would  give 
to  those  near  and  dear  to  us  if  she  got  home  before  us. 
Thanks  to  him,  we  had  as  short  and  pleasant  a  home- 
ward voyage  as  few,  if  any,  can  have  had  from  these  in- 
hospitable regions,  where  we  had  spent  three  years.  From 
the  moment  we  set  foot  on  deck,  he  did  everything  to 
make  us  comfortable  and  at  home  on  board,  and  we  spent 
many  a  pleasant  hour  together,  which  will  never  be  for- 
gotten by  either  of  us.  But  it  was  not  only  the  captain 
who  treated  us  in  this  way.  Every  man  of  the  excellent 
crew  showed  us  kindness  and  goodwill  in  every  way.  I 
cannot  think  of  them — of  the  little  steward,  for  instance, 
when  he  popped  his  head  into  the  cabin  to  ask  what 
he  could  get  for  us,  or  wakened  me  in  the  morning 
with  his  cheery  voice,  or  sang  his  songs  for  us — without 
a  feeling  of  unspeakable  well-being  and  happiness. 
Then,  too,  we  were  continually  drawing  nearer  home ; 
we  could  count  the  days  and  hours  that  must  pass  before 
we  could  reach  a  Norwegian  port  and  be  once  more  in 
communication  with  the  world. 


THE  JOURXEY  SOUTHWARD  579 

From  the  experience  he  had  had  on  the  northward 
voyage,  Captain  Brown  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
he  would  find  his  way  out  of  the  ice  most  easily  by  first 
steering  in  a  southeasterly  direction  towards  Novaya 
Zemlya,  which  he  thought  would  be  the  nearest  way  to 
the  open  sea.  This  proved  also  to  be  exactly  the  case. 
After  having  gone  about  220  knots  through  the  ice,  we 
came  into  the  open  sea  at  the  end  of  a  long  bay,  which 
ran  northward  into  the  ice.  It  was  just  at  the  right 
spot ;  had  we  been  a  little  farther  east  or  a  little  farther 
west,  we  might  have  spent  as  many  weeks  drifting  about 
in  the  ice  as  we  now  spent  days  in  it.  Once  more  we 
saw  the  blue  ocean  itself  in  front  of  us,  and  we  shaped 
our  course  straight  for  Vardo,  It  was  an  indescribably 
delightful  feeling  once  more  to  gaze  over  the  blue  ex- 
panse, as  we  paced  up  and  down  the  deck,  and  were  day 
by  day  carried  nearer  home.  One  morning,  as  we  stood 
looking  over  the  sea,  our  gaze  was  arrested  by  some- 
thing ;  what  could  that  be  on  the  horizon }  We  ran  on 
to  the  bridge  and  looked  through  the  glass.  The  first 
sail.  Fancy  being  once  more  in  waters  where  other 
people  went  to  and  fro  !  But  it  was  far  away ;  we  could 
not  go  to  it.  Then  we  saw  more,  and  later  in  the  day  four 
great  monsters  ahead.  They  were  British  men-of-war, 
probably  on  their  way  home  after  having  been  at  Vadso  for 
the  eclipse  of  the  sun,  which  was  to  have  taken  place  on 
August  9th.  Later  in  the  evening  (August  12th)  I  saw 
something  dark  ahead,  low  down  on  the  horizon.     What 


58o  FARTHEST  NORTH 

was  it  ?  I  saw  it  on  the  starboard  bow,  stretching  low 
and  even  towards  the  south.  I  looked  again  and  again. 
It  was  land,  it  was  Norway!  I  stood  as  if  turned  to 
stone,  and   gazed   and  gazed  out   into  the  night  at  this 


"we  stood  looking  over  the  sea 

same  dark  line,  and  fear  began  to  tremble  in  my  breast. 
What  were  the  tidings  that  awaited  me  there  ? 

When  I  came  on  deck  next  morning  we  were  close 
under  the  land.  It  was  a  bare  and  naked  shore  we  had 
come  up  to,  scarcely  more  inviting  than  the  land  we  had 
left  up  in  the  mist  of  the  Arctic  Ocean — but  it  was  Nor- 
way. The  captain  had  mistaken  the  coast  in  the  night 
and  had  come  in  too  far  north,  and  we  were  still  to  have 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  581 

some  labor  in  beating  down  against  wind  and  sea  before 
we  could  reach  Vardo.  We  passed  several  vessels,  and 
dipped  our  flag  to  them.  We  passed  the  revenue-cutter; 
she  came  alongside,  but  they  had  nothing  to  do  there, 
and  no  one  came  on  board.  Then  came  pilots,  father 
and  son.  They  greeted  Brown,  but  were  not  prepared 
to  meet  a  countryman  on  board  an  English  vessel.  They 
were  a  little  surprised  to  hear  me  speak  Norwegian,  but 
did  not  pay  much  attention  to  it.  But  when  Brown 
asked  them  if  they  knew  who  I  was,  the  old  man  gazed 
at  me  again,  and  a  gleam,  as  it  were,  of  a  possible  recog- 
nition crept  over  his  face.  But  when  the  name  Nansen 
dropped  from  the  lips  of  the  warm-hearted  Brown,  as  he 
took  the  old  man  by  the  shoulders  and  shook  him  in  his 
delight  at  being  able  to  give  him  such  news,  an  expres- 
sion came  into  the  old  pilot's  weather-beaten  face,  a  mixt- 
ure of  joy  and  petrified  astonishment,  which  was  inde- 
scribable. He  seized  my  hand,  and  wished  me  welcome 
back  to  life ;  the  people  here  at  home  had  long  ago  laid 
me  in  my  grave.  And  then  came  questions  as  to  news 
from  the  expedition,  and  news  from  home.  Nothing  had 
yet  been  heard  of  the  Fram,  and  a  load  was  lifted  from 
my  breast  when  I  knew  that  those  at  home  had  been 
spared  that  anxiety. 

Then,  silently  and  unobserved,  the  Windward  glided 
with  colors  flying  into  Vardo  Haven.  Before  the  anchor 
was  dropped,  I  was  in  a  boat  with  Johansen  on  our  way 
to   the   telegraph-station.      We  put   in    at  the  quay,  but 


582  FARTHEST  NORTH 

there  was  still  so  much  of  our  former  piratical  appearance 
left  that  no  one  recognized  us;  they  scarcely  looked  at 
us,  and  the  only  being  that  took  any  notice  of  the  re- 
turned wanderers  was  an  intelligent  cow,  which  stopped 
in  the  middle  of  a  narrow  street  and  stared  at  us  in  aston- 
ishment as  we  tried  to  pass.  That  cow  was  so  delight- 
fully summery  to  look  at  that  I  felt  inclined  to  go  up  and 
pat  her;  I  felt  now  that  I  really  was  in  Norway.  When 
I  got  to  the  telegraph -station  I  laid  a  huge  bundle  down 
on  the  counter,  and  said  that  it  consisted  of  telegrams 
that  I  should  like  to  have  sent  as  soon  as  possible.  There 
were  nearly  a  hundred  of  them,  one  or  two  rather  long,  of 
about  a  thousand  words  each. 

The  head  of  the  telegraph-ofifice  looked  hard  at  me, 
and  quietly  took  up  the  bundle;  but  as  his  eye  fell  upon 
the  signature  of  the  telegram  that  lay  on  the  top,  his 
face  suddenly  changed,  he  wheeled  sharp  round,  and 
went  over  to  the  lady  clerk  who  was  sitting  at  the  table. 
When  he  again  turned  and  came  towards  me  his  face  was 
radiant,  and  he  bade  me  a  hearty  welcome.  The  tele- 
grams should  be  despatched  as  quickly  as  possible,  he  said; 
but  it  would  take  several  days  and  nights  to  get  them 
all  through.  And  then  the  instrument  began  to  tick  and 
tick  and  to  send  through  the  country  and  the  world  the 
news  that  two  members  of  the  Norwegian  Polar  Expedi- 
tion had  returned  safe  and  sound,  and  that  I  expected 
the  Fram  home  in  the  course  of  the  autumn.  I  pitied 
the  four  young  ladies  in  the  telegraph  -  ofifice  at  Vardo ; 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  583 

they  had  hard  work  of  it  during  the  following  days. 
Not  only  had  all  my  telegrams  to  be  despatched,  but 
hundreds  streamed  in  from  the  south  —  both  to  us  and 
to  the  people  in  the  town,  begging  them  to  obtain  in- 
formation about  us.  Among  the  first  were  telegrams  to 
my  wife,  to  the  King  of  Norway,  and  to  the  Norwegian 
Government.     The  last  ran  as  follows : 

"  To  his  Excellency  Secretary  Hagerup  : 

"  I  have  the  pleasure  of  announcing  to  you  and  to  the 
Norwegian  Government  that  the  expedition  has  carried 
out  its  plan,  has  traversed  the  unknown  Polar  Sea  from 
north  of  the  New  Siberian  Islands,  and  has  explored  the 
region  north  of  Franz  Josef  Land  as  far  as  86°  14  north 
latitude.     No  land  was  seen  north  of  82°. 

"  Lieutenant  Johansen  and  I  left  the  Frajn,  and  the 
other  members  of  the  expedition  on  March  14,  1S95, 
in  84°  north  latitude  and  102°  27'  east  longitude.  We 
went  northward  to  explore  the  sea  north  of  the  Frams 
course,  and  then  came  south  to  Franz  Josef  Land, 
whence  the  Windward  has  now  brought  us. 

"  I  expect  the  Fram  to  return  this  year. 

"  Fridtjof  Naxsen." 

As  I  was  leaving  the  telegraph  -  ofifice  the  manager 
told  me  that  my  friend  Professor  Mohn  was  in  the  town, 
staying,  he  understood,  at  the  hotel.  Strange  that  Mohn', 
a    man    so    intimately   connected    with    the    expedition, 


584  FARTHEST  NORTH 

should  be  the  first  friend  I  was  to  meet !  Even  while 
we  were  handing  in  our  telegrams  the  news  of  our 
arrival  had  begun  to  filter  through  the  town,  and 
people  were  gradually  flocking  together  to  see  the 
two  polar  bears  who  strode  through  the  streets  to 
the  hotel.  I  rushed  in  and  inquired  for  Mohn.  He 
was  in  his  room,  number  so  -  and  -  so,  they  told  me, 
but  he  was  taking  his  siesta.  I  had  no  respect  for 
siestas  at  that  moment;  I  thundered  at  the  door  and 
tore  it  open.  There  lay  Mohn  on  the  sofa,  reading, 
with  a  long  pipe  in  his  mouth.  He  started  up  and 
stared  fixedly,  like  a  madman,  at  the  long  figure  standing 
on  the  threshold  ;  his  pipe  fell  to  the  ground,  his  face 
twitched,  and  then  he  burst  out,  "  Can  it  be  true  ?  Is 
it  Fridtjof  Nansen.'*"  I  believe  he  was  alarmed  about 
himself,  thinking  he  had  seen  an  apparition ;  but  when 
he  heard  my  well-known  voice  the  tears  came  to  his 
eyes,  and,  crying,  "  Thank  God,  you're  still  alive  !"  he 
rushed  into  my  arms.  Then  came  Johansen's  turn.  It 
was  a  moment  of  wild  rejoicing,  and  numberless  were 
the  questions  asked  and  answered  on  both  sides.  As 
one  thing  after  another  came  into  our  heads,  the  ques- 
tions rained  around  without  coherence  and  almost  with- 
out meaning.  The  whole  thing  seemed  so  incredible 
that  a  long  time  passed  before  we  even  collected  our- 
selves sufficiently  to  sit  down,  and  I  could  tell  him  in  a 
somewhat  more  connected  fashion  what  experiences  we 
had  gone  through  during  these  three  years.     But  where 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  S^S 

was  the  Fram  ?  Had  we  left  her  ?  Where  were  the  oth- 
ers ?  Was  anything  amiss?  These  questions  poured 
forth  with  breathless  anxiety,  and  it  was  no  doubt  the 
hardest  thing  of  all  to  understand  that  there  was  nothing 
amiss,  and  yet  that  we  had  left  our  splendid  ship.  But 
little  by  little  even  that  became  comprehensible ;  and  then 
all  was  rejoicing,  and  champagne  and  cigars  presently 
appeared  on  the  scene.  Another  acquaintance  from  the 
south  was  also  in  the  hotel ;  he  came  in  to  speak  to 
Mohn  ;  but,  seeing  that  he  had  visitors,  was  on  the  point 
of  going  again.  Then  he  stopped,  stared  at  us,  discov- 
ered who  the  visitors  were,  and  stood  as  though  nailed  to 
the  spot ;  and  then  we  all  drank  to  the  expedition  and  to 
Norway.  It  was  clear  that  we  must  stop  there  that  even- 
ins,  and  we  sat  the  whole  afternoon  talkino^  and  talk- 
ing  without  a  pause.  But  meanwhile  the  whole  town  had 
learnt  the  names  of  its  newly  arrived  guests,  and  when  we 
looked  out  of  the  window  the  street  was  full  of  people, 
and  from  all  the  flagstaffs  over  the  town,  and  from  all  the 
masts  in  the  harbor,  the  Norwegian  flag  waved  in  the 
evening  sunshine.  And  then  came  telegrams  in  torrents, 
all  of  them  bringing  good  news.  Now  all  our  troubles 
were  over.  Only  the  arrival  of  the  Fram  was  wanting  to 
complete  things ;  but  we  were  quite  at  ease  about  her ; 
she  would  soon  turn  up.  The  first  thing  we  had  to  do, 
now  that  we  were  on  Norwegian  soil  and  could  look 
about  us  a  little,  was  to  replenish  our  wardrobe.  But  it 
was  now  no  joke  to  make  our  way  through   the  streets. 


5^6  FARTHEST  NORTH 

and  if  we  went  into  a  shop  it  was  soon  overflowing  with 
people. 

Thus  we  spent  some  never-to-be-forgotten  days  in 
Vardo,  and  the  hospitaHty  which  we  met  was  lavish 
and  cordial.  After  we  had  said  good-bye  to  our  hosts 
on  board  the  Windward  and  thanked  them  for  all  the 
kindness  they  had  shown  us,  Captain  Brown  weighed 
anchor  on  the  morning  of  Sunday,  the  i6th,  to  go  on  to 
Hammerfest.  He  wanted  to  pay  his  respects  to  my  wife, 
who  was  to  meet  us  there.  On  August  21st  Johansen 
and  I  arrived  at  Hammerfest.  Everywhere  on  the  way 
people  had  greeted  us  with  flowers  and  flags,  and  now, 
as  we  sailed  into  its  harbor,  the  northernmost  town  in 
Norway  was  in  festal  array  from  the  sea  to  the  highest 
hilltop,  and  thousands  of  people  were  afoot.  To  my 
surprise,  I  also  met  here  my  old  friend  Sir  George 
Baden-Powell,  whose  fine  yacht,  the  Otaria,  was  in  the 
harbor.  He  had  just  returned  from  a  very  successful 
scientific  expedition  to  Novaya  Zemlya,  where  he  had 
been  with  several  English  astronomers  to  observe  the 
solar  eclipse  of  August  9th.  With  true  English  hospi- 
tality, he  placed  his  yacht  entirely  at  my  disposal  and  I 
willingly  accepted  his  generous  invitation.  Sir  George 
Baden-Powell  was  one  of  the  last  people  I  had  seen  in 
England.  When  we  parted  —  it  was  in  the  autumn  of 
1892 — he  asked  me  where  we  ought  to  be  looked  for 
if  we  were  too  long  away.  I  answered  that  it  would 
be    of    little    use   to   look    for    us  —  it   would    be    like 


THE  JOURXEY  SOUTHWARD 


587 


searching  for  a  needle  in  a  hay-stack.  He  told  me  I 
must  not  think  that  people  would  be  content  to  sit  still 
and  do  nothing.  In  England,  at  any  rate,  he  was  sure 
that  something  would  be  done — and  where  ought  they 
to  go.^      "Well,"  I  replied,  "  I  can  scarcely  think  of  any 


ARRIVAL    AT    HAMMERFEST 


other  place  than  Franz  Josef  Land ;  for  if  the  Fram 
goes  to  the  bottom,  or  we  are  obliged  to  abandon  her, 
we  must  come  out  that  way.  If  the  Fi'aui  does  not  go 
to  the  bottom,  and  the  drift  is  as  I  believe  it  to  be, 
we  shall  reach  the  open  sea  between  Spitzbergen  and 
Greenland."  Sir  Geors^e  now  thouo^ht  that  the  time  had 
come  to  look  for  us,  and  since  he  could  not  do  more  for 


588  FARTHEST  NORTH 

the  present,  it  was  his  intention,  after  having  carried  out 
his  expedition  to  Novaya  Zemlya,  to  skirt  along  the  edge 
of  the  ice,  and  see  if  he  could  not  pick  up  any  news 
of  us.  Then,  just  at  the  right  moment,  we  made  our 
appearance  at  Hammerfest.  In  the  evening,  my  wife 
arrived,  and  my  secretary,  Christofersen ;  and  after  hav- 
ing attended  a  brilliant  fete  given  that  night  by  the 
town  of  Hammerfest  in  our  honor,  we  took  up  our  quar- 
ters on  board  the  Otaria,  where  the  days  now  glided 
past  so  smoothly  that  we  scarcely  noticed  the  lapse  of 
time.  Telegrams  of  congratulation,  and  testimonies  of 
goodwill  and  hearty  rejoicing,  arrived  in  an  unbroken 
stream  from  all  quarters  of  the  world. 

But  the  Fram?  I  had  telegraphed  confidently  that 
I  expected  her  home  this  year;  but  why  had  she  not 
already  arrived  ?  I  began  more  and  more  to  think  over 
this,  and  the  more  I  calculated  all  chances  and  possibili- 
ties, the  more  firmly  was  I  convinced  that  she  ought  to 
be  out  of  the  ice  by  this  time  if  nothing  had  gone  amiss. 
It  was  strange  that  she  was  not  already  here,  and  I 
thought  with  horror  that  if  the  autumn  should  pass  with- 
out news  of  her,  the  coming  winter  and  summer  would 
be  anything  but  pleasant. 

Just  as  I  had  turned  out  on  the  morning  of  August 
20th,  Sir  George  knocked  at  my  door  and  said  there  was 
a  man  there  who  insisted  on  speaking  to  me.  I  an- 
swered that  I  wasn't  dressed  yet,  but  that  I  w^ould  come 
immediately.     "  Oh,  that  doesn't  matter,"  said  he ;  "  come 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  5^9 

as  you  are."  I  was  a  little  surprised  at  all  this  urgency 
and  asked  what  it  was  all  about.  He  said  he  did  not 
know,  but  it  was  evidently  something  pressing.  I  never- 
theless put  on  my  clothes,  and  then  went  out  into  the 
saloon.  There  stood  a  gentleman  with  a  telegram  in 
his  hand,  who  introduced  himself  as  the  head  of  the  tele- 
graph-ofifice,  and  said  that  he  had  a  telegram  to  deliver 
to  me  which  he  thought  would  interest  me,  so  he  had 
come  with  it  himself.  Something  that  would  interest 
me  ?  There  was  only  one  thing  left  in  the  world  that 
could  really  interest  me.  With  trembling  hands  I  tore 
open  the  telegram : 

"  Fridtjof  Nansen  : 

"  Frani  arrived  in  good  condition.  All  well  on  board. 
Shall  start  at  once  for  Tromso.     Welcome  home ! 

"  Otto  Sverdrup." 

I  felt  as  if  I  should  have  choked,  and  all  I  could  say 
was,  "  The  Fram  has  arrived !"  Sir  George,  who  was 
standing  by,  gave  a  great  leap  of  joy;  Johansen's  face 
was  radiant ;  Christofersen  was  quite  overcome  with  glad- 
ness ;  and  there  in  the  midst  of  us  stood  the  head  of  the 
telegraph  -  ofifice  enjoying  the  effect  he  had  produced. 
In  an  instant  I  dashed  into  my  cabin  to  shout  to  my  wife 
that  the  Fram  had  arrived.  She  was  dressed  and  out  in 
double-quick  time.  But  I  could  scarcely  believe  it — it 
seemed  like  a  fairy  tale.     I  read  the  telegram  again  and 


590  FARTHEST  NORTH 

again  before  I  could  assure  myself  that  it  was  not  all  a 
dream ;  and  then  there  came  a  strange,  serene  happiness 
over  my  mind  such  as  I  had  never  known  before. 

There  was  jubilation  on  board  and  over  all  the  harbor 
and  town.  From  the  Windward,  which  was  just  weigh- 
ing anchor  to  precede  us  to  Tromsb,  we  heard  ringing 
cheers  for  the  Fram  and  the  Norwegian  flag.  We  had 
intended  to  start  for  Tromso  that  afternoon,  but  now  we 
agreed  to  get  under  way  as  quickly  as  possible,  so  as 
to  try  to  overtake  the  Fram  at  Skjaervo,  which  lay  just 
on  our  route.  I  attempted  to  stop  her  by  a  telegram 
to  Sverdrup,  but  it  arrived  too  late. 

It  was  a  lively  breakfast  we  had  that  morning.  Jo- 
hansen  and  I  spoke  of  how  incredible  it  seemed  that 
we  should  soon  press  our  comrades'  hands  again.  Sir 
George  was  almost  beside  himself  with  joy.  Every  now 
and  then  he  would  spring  up  from  his  chair,  thump  the 
table,  and  cry,  "  The  Fram  has  arrived !  The  Fram, 
has  really  arrived!"  Lady  Baden -Powell  was  quietly 
happy ;  she  enjoyed  our  joy. 

The  next  day  we  entered  Tromso  harbor,  and  there 
lay  the  Fram,  strong  and  broad  and  weather-beaten.  It 
was  strange  to  see  again  that  high  rigging  and  the  hull 
we  knew  so  well.  When  last  we  saw  her  she  was  half 
buried  in  the  ice ;  now  she  floated  freely  and  proudly  on 
the  blue  sea,  in  Norwegian  waters.  We  glided  alongside 
of  her.  The  crew  of  the  Otaria  greeted  the  gallant  ship 
with   three  times  three   English    cheers,  and    the  Fra^n 


■^.m:^. 


THE    "  WINDWARD        LEAVING    TROMSO 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  593 

replied  with  a  ninefold  Norwegian  hurrah.  We  dropped 
our  anchor,  and  the  next  moment  the  Otaria  was  boarded 
by  the  Frams  sturdy  crew. 

The  meeting  which  followed  I  shall  not  attempt  to 
describe.  I  don't  think  any  of  us  knew  anything  clearly, 
except  that  we  were  all  together  again — we  were  in  Nor- 
way— and  the  expedition  had  fulfilled  its  task. 

Then  we  set  off  together  southward  along  the  Nor- 
wegian coast.  First  came  the  tug  Haalogaland,  char- 
tered by  the  government ;  then  the  Frmn,  heavy  and 
slow,  but  so  much  the  surer ;  and  last  the  elegant  Otaria, 
with  my  wife  and  me  on  board — which  was  to  take  us  to 
Trondhjem.  What  a  blessed  sensation  it  was  to  sit  in 
peace  at  last,  and  see  others  take  the  lead  and  pick  out 
the  way ! 

Wherever  we  passed,  the  heart  of  the  Norwegian  peo- 
ple went  out  to  us,  from  the  steamers  crowded  with  holi- 
day-making townsfolk,  and  from  the  poorest  fishing-boat 
that  lay  alone  among  the  skerries.  It  seemed  as  if  old 
Mother  Norway  were  proud  of  us,  as  if  she  pressed  us  in 
a  close  and  warm  embrace,  and  thanked  us  for  what  we 
had  done.  And  what  was  it,  after  all  ?  We  had  only 
done  our  duty ;  we  had  simply  accomplished  the  task  we 
had  undertaken ;  and  it  was  we  who  owed  her  thanks  for 
the  right  to  sail  under  her  flag.  I  remember  one  morn- 
ing in  particular.  It  was  in  Bronosund — the  morning 
was  still  gray  and  chill  when  I  was  called  up — there  were 

so  many  people  who   wanted   to  greet  us.     I    was   half 
II.— 38 


594  FARTHEST  NORTH 

asleep  when  I  came  on  deck.  The  whole  sound  was 
crowded  with  boats.  We  had  been  going  slowly 
through  them,  but  now  the  Haalogalaiid  in  front  put  on 
more  speed,  and  we  too  went  a  little  quicker.  A  fisher- 
man in  his  boat  toiled  at  the  oars  to  keep  up  with  us ;  it 
was  no  easy  work.     Then  he  shouted  up  to  me : 

"  You  don't  want  to  buy  any  fish,  do  you .?" 

"  No,  I  don't  think  we  do." 

"  I  suppose  you  can't  tell  me  where  Nansen  is.?  Is  he 
on  board  the  Fram  T' 

"  No,  I  believe  he's  on  board  this  ship,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Oh,  I  wonder  if  I  couldn't  get  on  board  ?  I'm  so 
desperately  anxious  to  see  him." 

"It  can  hardly  be  done,  I'm  afraid ;  they  haven't  time 
to  stop  now." 

"  That's  a  pity.     I  want  to  see  the  man  himself." 

He  went  on  rowing.  It  became  harder  and  harder  to 
keep  up,  but  he  stared  fixedly  at  me  as  I  leaned  on  the 
rail  smiling,  while  Christofersen  stood  laughing  at  my 
side. 

"  Since  you're  so  anxious  to  see  the  man  himself,  I 
may  tell  you  that  you  see  him  now,"  said  I. 

"  Is  it  you }  Is  it  you  t  Didn't  I  guess  as  much ! 
Welcome  home  again !" 

And  thereupon  the  fisherman  dropped  his  oars,  stood 
up  in  his  boat,  and  took  off  his  cap.  As  we  went  on 
through  the  splendor  of  the  morning,  and  I  sat  on  the 
deck  of  the  luxurious  English  yacht  and  saw  the  beauti- 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD  595 

ful  barren  coast  stretching  ahead  in  the  sunshine,  I  re- 
aHzed  to  the  full  for  the  first  time  how  near  this  land 
and  this  people  lay  to  my  heart.  If  we  had  sent  a  single 
gleam  of  sunlight  over  their  lives,  these  three  years  had 
not  been  wasted. 


"This  Norway,  this  Norway  .  . 

It  is  dear  to  us,  so  dear. 
And  no  people  has  a  fairer  land  than  this  our  homeland  here. 

Oh,  the  shepherding  in  spring, 

When  the  birds  begin  to  sing, 
When  the  mountain-peak  glitters  and  green  grows  the  lea. 
And  the  turbulent  river  sweeps  brown  to  the  sea  !  .  .  . 

Whoso  knows  Norway  must  well  understand 

How  her  sons  can  suffer  for  such  a  land." 


One  felt  all  the  vitality  and  vigor  throbbing  in  this 
people,  and  saw  as  in  a  vision  its  great  and  rich  future, 
when  all  its  prisoned  forces  shall  be  unfettered  and  set 
free. 

Now  one  had  returned  to  life,  and  it  stretched  before 
one  full  of  light  and  hope.  Then  came  the  evenings 
when  the  sun  sank  far  out  behind  the  blue  sea,  and  the 
clear  melancholy  of  autumn  lay  over  the  face  of  the  wa- 
ters. It  was  too  beautiful  to  believe  in.  A  feeling  of 
dread  came  over  one ;  but  the  silhouette  of  a  woman's 
form,  standing  out  against  the  glow  of  the  evening  sky, 
gave  peace  and  security. 

So  we  passed  from  town  to  town,  from  fete  to  fete, 
along  the  coast  of  Norway.  It  was  on  September  9th 
that   the   Fram   steamed  up   Christiania  Fjord  and  met 


59<5  FARTHEST  NORTH 

with  such  a  reception  as  a  prince  might  have  envied. 
The  stout  old  men-of-war  Nordstjernen  and  Elida,  the 
new  and  elegant  Valkyrie,  and  the  nimble  little  torpedo- 
boats  led  the  way  for  us.  Steamboats  swarmed  around, 
all  black  with  people.  There  were  flags  high  and  low, 
salutes,  hurrahs,  waving  of  handkerchiefs  and  hats,  ra- 
diant faces  everywhere,  the  whole  fjord  one  multitudi- 
nous welcome.  There  lay  home,  and  the  well  -  known 
strand  before  it,  glittering  and  smiling  in  the  sun- 
shine. Then  steamers  on  steamers  again,  shouts  after 
shouts ;  and  we  all  stood,  hat  in  hand,  bowing  as  they 
cheered. 

The  whole  of  Peppervik  was  one  mass  of  boats  and 
people  and  flags  and  waving  pennants.  Then  the  men- 
of  -  war  saluted  with  thirteen  guns  apiece,  and  the  old 
fort  of  Akershus  followed  with  its  thirteen  peals  of 
thunder,  that  echoed  from  the  hills  around. 

In  the  evening  I  stood  on  the  strand  out  by  the  fjord. 
The  echoes  had  died  away,  and  the  pine  woods  stood 
silent  and  dark  around.  On  the  headland  the  last  em- 
bers of  a  bonfire  of  welcome  still  smouldered  and 
smoked,  and  the  sea  rippling  at  my  feet  seemed  to 
whisper,  "  Now  you  are  at  home."  The  deep  peace  of 
the  autumn  evening  sank  beneficently  over  the  weary 
spirit. 

I  could  not  but  recall  that  rainy  morning  in  June  when 
I  last  set  foot  on  this  strand.  More  than  three  years 
had  passed  ;  we  had  toiled  and  we  had  sown,  and  now 


THE  JOURNEY  SOUTHWARD 


597 


the  harvest  had  come.     In  my  heart  I  sobbed  and  Avept 
for  joy  and  thankfuhiess. 

The  ice  and  the  long  moonlit  polar  nights,  with  all 
their  yearning,  seemed  like  a  far-off  dream  from  another 
world — a  dream  that  had  come  and  passed  away.  But 
what  would  life  be  worth  without  its  dreams  t 


The  Mean  Temperature  of  Every  Month  during  Nansen 
AND  Johansen's  Sledge  Journey 


Mean 

Date 

Temperature 
(Fahr.) 

Maximum 

Minimum 

0 

0 

0 

March  (16-31),   1895     .     . 

-37 

—  9 

-51 

April,  1895  .... 

—  20 

—  2 

-35 

May,   1895    .     . 

-24 

28 

—  II 

June,  1895    .     . 

30 

38 

9 

July,  1895     .     . 

32 

37 

28 

August,  1895     . 

29 

36 

19 

September,  1895 

+  20 

41 

—    4 

October,  1895  . 

—    I 

16 

—  13 

November,  1895 

-  13 

ID 

—  35 

December,  1895 

-  13 

12 

-37 

January,  1896  . 

—  14 

19 

-46 

February,  1896 

—  10 

30 

—  40 

March,  1896     . 

10 

30 

—  29 

April,  1896  .     . 

8 

27 

-  16 

May,  1896    .     . 

18 

43 

—  II 

June  (1-16),  1896  .... 

29 

39 

23 

APPENDIX 


REPORT  OF  CAPTAIN  OTTO  SVERDRUP 

ON 

THE  DRIFTING  OF  THE  "FRAM"  FROM  MARCH   14,  1895 


CHAPTER    I 

March  15  to  June  22,  1895 


As  far  back  as  February  26th  Dr.  Nansen  had  officially  in- 
formed the  crew  that  after  he  left  the  ship  I  was  to  be  chief 
officer  of  the  expedition,  and  Lieutenant  Scott-Hansen  second 
in  command.  Before  starting,  he  handed  me  a  letter,  or  set  of 
instructions,  which  have  been  mentioned  earlier  in  the  volume.* 

The  day  after  that  on  which  the  postscript  to  my  instruc- 
tions is  dated — i.e.,  on  Thursday,  March  14th,  at  11.30  a.m. — 
Dr.  Nansen  and  Johansen  left  the  Fram  and  set  forth  on  their 
sledge  expedition.  We  gave  them  a  parting  salute  with  flag, 
pennant,  and  guns.  Scott-Hansen,  Henriksen,  and  Pettersen 
accompanied  them  as  far  as  the  first  camping-place,  7  or  8  miles 
from  the  vessel,  and  returned  the  next  day  at  2.30  P.M. 

In  the  morning  they  had  helped  to  harness  the  dogs  and 
put  them  to  the  three  sledges.  In  the  team  of  the  last  sledge 
there  were  "  Barnet "  and  "Pan,"  who  all  the  time  had  been 
mortal  enemies. f     They  began  to  fight,  and  Henriksen  had  to 

*  Vide  pp.  91-98,  Vol.  II. 

t  Little  "  Barnet,"  who  weighed  only  38  pounds,  and  was  one  of  the 
smallest  of  the  dogs,  was  a  regular  fighter,  and,  as  a  rule,  the  aggressor. 


6o2  APPENDIX 

give  "  Barnet"  a  good  thrashing  in  order  to  part  him  from  the 
other.  In  consequence  of  this  fight  the  last  team  was  some- 
what behind  in  starting.  The  other  dogs  were  all  the  while 
hauling  with  all  their  might,  and  when  the  thrashing  scene  was 
over,  and  the  disturbers  of  the  peace  suddenly  commenced  to 
pull,  the  sledge  started  off  faster  than  Johansen  had  calculated, 
and  he  was  left  behind  and  had  to  strike  out  well  on  his  snow- 
shoes.  Scott -Hansen  and  the  others  followed  the  sledging 
party  with  their  eyes  until  they  looked  like  little  black  dots 
far,  far  away  on  the  boundless  plain  of  ice.  With  a  last  sad 
lingering  look  after  the  two  whom,  perhaps,  they  might  never 
see  again,  they  put  on  their  snow-shoes  and  started  on  their 
journey  back. 

At  the  time  when  the  sledge  expedition  started  the  Fram  lay 
in  84"  4'  north  latitude  and  102°  east  longitude.  The  situation 
was  briefly  as  follows  :  The  vessel  was  ice-bound  in  about  25 
feet  of  ice,  with  a  slight  list  to  starboard.  She  had  thus  a  layer 
of  ice,  several  feet  in  thickness,  underneath  her  keel.  Piled  high 
against  the  vessel's  side,  to  port,  along  her  entire  length,  there 
extended  from  S.S.E.  to  N.N.W.  a  pressure-ridge  reaching  up 
to  about  the  height  of  the  rail  on  the  half-deck  aft  and  slanting 
slightly  eastward  from  the  ship.  At  a  distance  of  about  160 
yards  to  the  northwest  there  extended  in  the  direction  from 
south  to  north  a  long  and  fairly  broad  ice-mound,  the  so-called 
"  great  hummock,"  as  much  as  22  feet  high  in  places.  Mid- 
way between  the  Fram  and  the  great  hummock  there  was  a 
newly  formed  open  lane  about  50  yards  wide,  while  across  her 
bow,  at  a  distance  of  50  yards,  there  was  an  old  channel  that 
had  been  closed  up  by  the  ice-pressure,  but  which  opened  later 
on  in  the  spring. 

Upon  the  "  great  hummock,"  which  had  been  formed  by  the 
violent  ice-pressure  on  January  27,  1894,  we  had  established  our 
depot  on  the  slope  looking  towards  the  ship.  The  depot  con- 
sisted of  piled-up  tin  boxes,  containing  provisions  and  other 
necessaries,  and  formed  six  or  seven  small  mounds  covered  with 
sail-cloth.  Moreover,  our  snow-shoes  and  sledges  were  stored 
there.     Half-way  between  the  vessel  and  the  great  hummock 


o 

Q 

O 
O 

c 

H 

H 

EC 
M 


OO 
vO 


^ 


MARCH  13    TO  JUNE   22,  1895  605 

lay  the  petroleum  launch,  which,  when  the  new  channel  or  rift 
had  opened  right  under  her,  had  to  be  drawn  a  little  way  far- 
ther out  on  to  the  ice.  Finally,  there  Avas  our  forge.  This  was 
situated  about  30  yards  ofY,  a  little  abaft  the  port  quarter,  and 
was  hewn  out  in  the  slope  of  the  above-mentioned  pressure- 
ridge,  the  roof  being  made  of  a  quantity  of  spars  over  which 
blocks  of  ice  were  piled,  with  a  layer  of  snow  on  the  top,  all 
frozen  together  so  as  to  form  a  compact  mass.  A  tarpaulin 
served  in  place  of  a  door. 

The  first  and  most  pressing  work  which  we  had  to  take  in 
hand  was  to  remove  part  of  the  high-pressure  ridge  on  the  port 
side.  I  was  afraid  that  if  the  ice-pressure  continued  the  vessel 
might  be  forced  down  instead  of  upward  while  she  had  so  high 
a  ridge  of  ice  resting  against  the  whole  of  her  port  side.  The 
work  Avas  commenced  by  all  hands  on  March  19th.  We  had 
five  sledges,  and  a  box  on  each,  and  each  worked  by  two  men. 
There  were  two  parties  at  w^ork  simultaneously  with  one  sledge 
each — forward,  and  two  parties  aft — working  towards  each  other, 
while  the  fifth  party,  of  two  men  with  one  sledge,  were  cutting  a 
passage  13  feet  wide  right  up  to  the  middle  of  the  vessel.  The 
layer  of  ice  which  was  in  this  way  removed  from  all  along  the 
vessel's  side  reached  to  double  the  height  of  a  man,  except  in 
the  central  passage,  where  it  had  previously  been  removed  to  a 
depth  of  about  three  yards,  partly  in  view  of  possible  ice-jDress- 
ure  against  this,  the  lowest  part  of  the  hull,  and  partly  in  order 
to  clear  the  gangway,  by  which  the  dogs  passed  to  and  from  the 
vessel. 

The  carting  away  of  ice  commenced  on  the  19th  and  con- 
cluded on  March  27th.  The  whole  of  the  pressure-ridge  on  the 
port  side  was  removed  down  to  such  a  depth  that  two  and  a 
half  planks  of  the  ship's  ice-skin  were  free.  All  the  time  while 
this  work  was  going  on  the  weather  was  fairly  cold,  the  temper- 
ature down  to  —38°  and  — 40°C.  (—36.  4°  and  —40°  Fahr.).  How- 
ever, all  passed  off  well  and  successfully,  except  that  Scott-Hansen 
was  unfortunate  enough  to  have  one  of  his  big  toes  frozen. 

The  doctor  and  I  were  together  at  the  same  sledge.  My 
diary  says:  "  He  always  suspected  me  of  being  out  of  temper, 


6o6  APPENDIX 

and  I  him."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  my  habit  to  dislike  talk- 
ing when  I  am  busy  with  any  work,  while  the  reverse  is  the  case 
with  the  doctor.  As,  according  to  my  custom,  I  kept  silence, 
the  doctor  believed  that  I  was  in  a  bad  humor,  and  in  the  same 
way  I  fancied  that  he  was  in  the  sulks,  because  he  abstained 
from  chatting.  But  the  misunderstanding  was  soon  cleared  up, 
and  we  laughed  heartily  at  it. 

As  Dr.  Nansen's  and  Johansen's  departure  afforded  an  op- 
portunity for  a  more  comfortable  redistribution  of  quarters,  I 
moved  into  Nansen's  cabin,  after  having  packed  in  cases  the 
effects  he  left  behind,  and  stowed  them  away  in  the  fore-hold. 
Jacobsen,  the  mate,  who  was  formerly  quartered  with  four  of 
the  crew  in  the  large  cabin  on  the  port  side,  had  my  cabin  al- 
lotted to  him ;  and  in  the  starboard  cabin,  where  four  men  had 
been  quartered,  there  were  now  only  three.  The  workroom, 
too,  was  restored  to  its  former  honor  and  dignity.  The  lamp- 
glasses  of  the  oil-stove  there  had  got  broken  in  the  course  of  the 
year.  Amundsen  now  replaced  these  with  chimneys  of  tin,  and 
fitted  thin  sheets  of  mica  over  the  peep-holes.  The  stove  having 
thus  been  repaired,  the  workroom  became  the  busiest  and  most 
comfortable  compartment  in  the  whole  vessel. 

After  the  various  operations  of  shifting  and  putting  in  order 
the  things  on  board  and  in  the  depot,  our  next  care  was  to  insure 
easy  and  convenient  access  to  the  vessel  by  constructing  a  proper 
gangway  aft,  consisting  of  two  spars  with  packing-case  planks 
nailed  between  them  and  a  rope  hand-rail  attached. 

When  all  this  was  done  we  set  to  work  at  the  long  and  mani- 
fold preparations  of  every  kind  for  a  sledge  journey  southward, 
in  the  event  (which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  none  of  us  considered 
likely)  of  our  being  obliged  to  abandon  the  Frani.  We  con- 
structed sledges  and  kayaks,  sewed  bags  for  our  stores,  selected 
and  weighed  out  provisions  and  other  necessaries,  etc.,  etc.  This 
work  kept  us  busy  for  a  long  time. 

In  addition  to  all  the  other  things  we  had  to  provide  ourselves 
with  more  snow-shoes,  as  we  were  scantily  supplied  with  them. 
Snow-shoes  we  viust  have,  good  strong  ones,  at  least  one  pair  to 
every  man.    But  where  were  the  materials  to  come  from?    There 


MARCH  IS    TO  JUNE   22,  1895  609 

was  no  more  wood  fit  for  making  snow-shoes  to  be  found  on 
board.  It  is  true  tliat  we  had  a  large  piece  of  oak  timber  left 
available,  but  we  were  in  need  of  a  suitable  instrument  to  split 
it  with,  as  it  could  not  be  cut  up  with  the  small  saws  we  had  on 
board.  In  our  dilemma  we  had  recourse  to  the  ice-saw.  Amund- 
sen converted  it  (by  filing  it  in  a  different  way)  into  a  rip-saw ; 
Bentzen  made  handles  for  it ;  and  as  soon  as  it  was  ready,  Mog- 
stad  and  Henriksen  commenced  to  saw  the  beam  of  oak  to 
pieces.  At  first  the  work  went  slowly,  most  of  the  time  being 
taken  up  with  filing  and  setting  the  saw ;  but  gradually  it  went 
better,  and  on  April  6th  the  timber  was  cut  up  into  six  pairs  of 
good  boards  for  making  snow-shoes,  which  we  temporarily  de- 
posited in  the  saloon  for  drying.  As  I  consider  Canadian  snow- 
shoes  superior  to  Norwegian  snow-shoes,  when  it  is  a  question  of 
hauling  heavily  loaded  sledges  over  such  a  rough  and  uneven 
surface  as  is  presented  by  polar  ice,  I  directed  Mogstad  to  make 
ten  Canadian  pairs  of  maple-wood,  of  which  we  had  a  quantity 
on  board.  Instead  of  the  netting  of  reindeer-skin  we  stretched 
sail-cloth  over  the  frames.  This  did  the  same  service  as  net- 
work, while  it  had  the  advantage  of  being  easier  to  repair.  With 
the  snow-shoes  which  we  had  we  undertook  frequent  excursions, 
more  particularly  Scott-Hansen  and  myself.  While  out  on  one 
of  these  trips,  on  which  Amundsen,  Nordahl,  and  Pettersen  also 
accompanied  us,  3  miles  west  of  the  vessel  we  came  across  a 
large  hummock,  which  we  named  "  Lovunden,"  on  account  of 
its  resemblance  to  the  island  "  Lovunden,"  off  the  coast  of 
Heligoland.  This  hummock  presented  very  good  snow-shoeing 
slopes,  and  we  practised  there  to  our  heart's  content. 

On  May  ist  we  had  finished  the  snow-shoes  intended  for 
daily  use,  and  I  gave  orders  that,  henceforth,  daily  snow-shoe 
trips  should  be  made  by  all  hands  from  11  A.M.  till  i  I'.M.,  if  the 
weather  was  good.  These  snow-shoe  runs  were  to  everybody's 
taste,  and  were  necessary,  not  only  in  order  to  afford  brisk  exer- 
cise in  the  open  air,  but  also  in  order  to  impart  to  those  who  were 
less  accustomed  to  snow-shoes  a  sufficient  degree  of  skill  in  the 
event  of  our  having  to  abandon  the  Fram. 

While  the  removal  of  the  ridge  was  proceeding  there  con- 
n.-39 


6io  APPENDIX 

tinued  to  be  a  good  deal  of  disturbance  in  the  ice.  Twenty 
yards  from  the  vessel  a  new  lane  was  formed  running  parallel  to 
the  old  one  between  us  from  the  depot ;  and  in  addition  to  this 
a  number  of  larger  or  smaller  cracks  had  opened  in  all  directions. 
A  little  later  on,  during  the  time  from  April  i  ith  to  May  9th,  there 
was  on  the  whole  considerable  disturbance  in  the  ice,  with  several 
violent  pressures  in  the  lanes  around  the  vessel.  On  the  first- 
mentioned  day,  in  the  evening,  Scott-Hansen  and  I  took  a  snow- 
shoe  trip  towards  the  northeast,  along  the  new  channel  between 
the  vessel  and  the  depot.  On  our  way  back  pressure  set  in  in 
the  channel,  and  we  had  an  opportunity  of  witnessing  a  "  screw- 
ing "  such  as  I  had  never  seen  equalled.  First  there  was  quite  a 
narrow  channel,  running  parallel  to  the  principal  channel,  which 
was  covered  over  with  young  ice  about  2  feet  thick.  There- 
upon a  larger  channel  opened  just  beyond  the  first  and  running 
alongside  it.  During  the  pressure  which  then  followed,  the 
edges  crashed  against  each  other  with  such  violence  as  to  force 
the  ice  down,  so  that  we  frequently  saw  it  from  3  to  4  fathoms 
deep  under  water. 

Newly  frozen  sea-ice  is  marvellously  elastic,  and  will  bend  to 
an  astonishing  degree  without  breaking.  In  another  place  we 
saw  how  the  new  ice  had  bulged  up  in  large  wave-like  emi- 
nences, without  breaking. 

On  May  5th  the  wide  lane  aft  was  jammed  up  by  ice-pressure, 
and  in  its  stead  a  rift  was  formed  in  the  ice  on  the  port  side 
about  100  yards  from  us,  and  approximately  parallel  to  the 
ship.  Thus  we  now  lay  in  an  altered  position,  inasmuch  as  the 
Fram  was  no  longer  connected  with  and  dependent  on  one 
solid  and  continuous  ice-field,  but  separated  from  it  by  more  or 
less  open  channels  and  attached  to  a  large  floe  which  was  daily 
decreasing  in  size  as  new  cracks  were  formed. 

The  principal  channel  aft  of  the  vessel  continued  to  open  out 
during  the  latter  part  of  April,  and  on  the  29th  had  become 
very  wide.  It  extended  north  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach, 
and  was  conspicuous,  moreover,  by  reason  of  the  dark  reflec- 
tion which  seemed  to  hover  above  it  in  the  sky.  It  probably 
attained  its  maximum  width  on  May  ist,  when  Scott-Hansen 


MARCH  15    TO  JUNE   22,  i8g5  613 

and  I  measured  it  and  found  that  just  astern  of  the  vessel  it  was 
975  yards,  and  farther  north  over  1500  yards  (1432  metres)  in 
width.  Had  the  Fraiii  been  loose  at  the  time  I  should  have 
gone  north  in  the  channel  as  far  as  possible  ;  but  this  was  not  to 
be  thought  of,  seeing  how  the  ship  had  been  raised  up  on  and 
walled  in  by  the  ice. 

No  later  than  May  2d  the  principal  channel  closed  up  again. 
The  mate,  Nordahl,  and  Amundsen,  who  just  then  happened  to 
be  out  on  a  snow-shoe  trip  south  along  the  channel,  were  eye- 
witnesses of  the  jamming  of  the  ice,  which  they  described  as 
having  been  a  grand  sight.  The  fresh  southeasterly  wind  had 
imparted  a  considerable  impetus  to  the  ice,  and  when  the  edges 
of  the  ice  approached  each  other  with  considerable  velocity  and 
force,  two  large  projecting  tongues  first  came  into  collision  with 
a  crash  like  thunder,  and  in  a  moment  were  forced  up  in  a  hum- 
mock about  20  feet  high,  only  to  collapse  soon  after,  and  disap- 
pear with  equal  suddenness  under  the  edge  of  the  ice.  Wher- 
ever the  ice  was  not  forced  up  into  the  air,  the  one  ice-edge 
would  slide  over  or  under  the  other,  while  all  the  projecting 
tongues  and  blocks  of  ice  were  crushed  to  thousands  of  frag- 
ments, which  filled  up  pretty  evenly  any  small  crevices  still  re- 
maining of  what  had  before  been  such  a  mighty  opening. 

Our  drift  towards  the  north  during  the  first  month  was  al- 
most nil.  For  instance,  on  April  19th  we  had  not  advanced 
more  than  4  minutes  of  latitude  (about  4  miles)  to  the  north. 
Nor  did  we  drift  much  to  the  west  in  the  same  period.  Later 
on  we  made  better  headway,  but  not,  by  a  long  way,  as  much  as 
in  1894.  On  May  23d  I  wrote  in  the  Journal  as  follows:  "We 
are  all  very  anxious  to  see  what  will  be  the  net  result  of  our 
spring  drift.  If  we  could  reach  60°  east  longitude  by  the  sum- 
mer or  autumn,  I  believe  we  could  be  certain  to  get  back  home 
about  the  autumn  of  1896.  The  spring  drift  this  year  is  con- 
siderably less  strong  than  last  year,  but  perhaps  it  may  continue 
longer  into  the  summer.  If  we  were  to  drift  this  year  as  far  as 
last,  during  the  time  from  May  i6th  to  June  i6th,  we  should  reach 
68°  east  longitude,  but  it  will  not  be  possible  now  to  reach  that 
longitude  so  early.     Possibly  we  may  manage  this  year  to  escape 


6i4  APPENDIX 

the  strong  back-drift  during  the  summer,  make  a  Httle  headway 
instead,  and  if  so  it  will  be  all  the  better  for  us.  The  ice  is  not 
so  much  cut  up  by  channels  this  year  as  it  was  this  time  last 
year.  It  is  true  there  are  a  good  many  ;  but  last  year  we  could 
scarcely  get  about  at  all,  simply  on  account  of  the  lanes.  This 
year  we  have  large  sheets  of  ice  ahead  of  us  in  which  scarcely 
any  openings  are  to  be  found." 

In  order  to  observe  the  drift  of  the  ice  we  prepared  a  kind  of 
log-line,  from  lOO  to  150  fathoms  in  length,  to  the  end  of  which 
there  was  attached  a  conical  open  bag  of  loosely  woven  material, 
in  which  small  animals  could  be  caught  up.  Immediately  above 
the  bag  a  lead  was  fitted  to  the  line,  so  that  the  bag  itself  might 
drag  freely  in  the  water.  The  log  was  lowered  through  a  fairly 
wide  hole  in  the  ice,  which  it  was  a  most  difficult  task  to  keep 
open  during  the  cold  season.  Several  times  a  day  the  line  was 
examined  and  the  "angle  of  drift"  was  measured.  For  this 
measurement  we  had  constructed  a  quadrant  fitted  with  a 
plumb-line.  Now  and  then  we  would  haul  in  the  log-line  to 
see  whether  it  was  still  in  order  and  to  collect  whatever  the  bag 
might  contain  in  the  way  of  little  animals  or  other  objects.  As 
a  rule  the  contents  were  insignificant,  consisting  only  of  a  few 
specimens  of  low  organisms. 

At  the  end  of  May  the  "  spring  drift "  was  over.  The  wind 
veered  round  to  the  S.W.,  W.,  and  N.W.  The  back-drift  or 
"summer  drift"  then  set  in.  However,  it  was  not  of  long  dura- 
tion, as  by  June  8th  we  again  had  an  easterly  wind  with  a  good 
drift  to  the  west,  so  that  on  the  22d  we  were  at  84°  31.7'  north 
latitude  and  80°  58'  east  longitude  ;  and  during  the  last  days  of 
June  and  the  greater  part  of  July  the  drift  went  still  better. 

A  circumstance  which  helped  to  increase  the  monotony  of 
our  drift  in  the  ice  during  the  winter  and  spring,  1895,  was  the 
great  scarcity  of  animal  life  in  that  part  of  the  Polar  Sea.  For 
long  periods  at  a  stretch  we  did  not  see  a  single  living  thing ; 
even  the  polar  bears,  who  roam  so  far,  were  not  to  be  seen. 
Hence  the  appearance  in  the  afternoon  of  May  7th  of  a  small  seal 
in  a  newly  opened  lane,  close  by  the  vessel,  was  hailed  with  uni- 
versal delight.     It  was  the  first  seal  that  we  had  set  eyes  upon 


MARCH  J 5    TO  JUNE   22,  1895  617 

since  March.  Subsequently  we  often  saw  seals  of  the  same  kind 
in  the  open  channels,  but  they  were  very  shy,  so  that  it  was  not 
until  well  on  in  the  summer  that  we  succeeded  in  killing  one, 
and  this  was  so  small  that  we  ate  the  whole  of  it  at  one  meal. 

On  May  14th  Pettersen  told  us  that  he  had  seen  a  white 
bird,  as  he  thought  an  ice-gull,  flying  westward.  On  the  22d 
Mogstad  saw  a  snow -bunting,  which  circled  round  the  vessel, 
and  after  this  the  harbingers  of  spring  became  daily  more 
numerous. 

Our  hunting-bags,  however,  were  very  scanty.  It  was  not 
until  June  loth  that  we  secured  the  first  game,  when  the  doctor 
succeeded  in  shooting  a  fulmar  and  a  kittiwake  {Lams  tridac- 
tylus).  True,  he  prefaced  these  exploits  by  sundry  misses,  but 
in  the  end  he  managed  to  hit  the  birds,  and  "  all's  well  that  ends 
well."  As  regards  the  fulmar,  it  was  an  exciting  chase,  as  it  had 
only  been  winged,  and  took  refuge  in  the  open  channel.  Petter- 
sen was  the  first  to  go  after  it,  followed  by  Amundsen,  the 
doctor,  Scott-Hansen,  and  the  whole  pack  of  dogs,  and  at  last 
they  managed  to  secure  it. 

After  this  it  was  a  matter  of  daily  occurrence  to  see  birds 
quite  near,  and  in  order  to  be  better  able  to  secure  them,  and 
seals  to  boot,  we  moored  our  sealing-boat  in  the  open  channel. 
This  was  equipped  with  a  sail,  and  with  ballast  composed  of 
some  of  the  castings  from  the  windmill,  which  w^e  had  been 
obliged  to  take  down  ;  and  the  very  first  evening  after  the  boat 
had  been  put  on  the  water,  Scott-Hansen,  Henriksen,  and  Bent- 
zen  went  for  a  sail  in  the  channel.  The  dogs  seized  this  occa- 
sion to  take  some  capital  exercise.  The\^  took  it  into  their 
heads  to  follow  the  boat  along  the  edge  of  the  channel  back- 
ward and  forward  as  the  boat  tacked  ;  it  was  stiff  work  for  them 
to  keep  always  abreast  of  it,  as  they  had  to  make  many  detours 
round  small  channels  and  bays  in  the  ice,  and  when  at  last  they 
had  got  near  it,  panting,  and  with  their  tongues  protruding  far 
from  their  mouths,  the  boat  would  go  about,  and  they  had  to 
cover  the  same  ground  over  again. 

On  June  20th  the  doctor  and  I  shot  one  black  guillemot  each. 
We  also  saw  some  little  auks,  but  the  dogs,  entering  too  eagerly 


6i8  APPENDIX 

into  the  sport,  as  a  welcome  break  in  the  prolonged  oppressive 
solitude  and  monotony,  rushed  ahead  of  us  and  scared  the  birds 
away  before  we  could  get  a  shot  at  them. 

As  I  have  already  mentioned,  the  mill  had  to  be  taken  down. 
The  shaft  broke  one  fine  day  below  the  upper  driving-wheel,  and 
had  to  be  removed  and  taken  to  the  forge  for  repair.  Pettersen 
welded  it  together  again,  and  on  May  9th  the  mill  was  again  in 
sufficiently  good  order  for  use.  But  it  wore  out  very  speedily, 
more  especially  in  the  gearings,  so  that,  after  the  first  week  or 
two  in  June,  it  was  almost  useless.  We  therefore  pulled  it  down, 
and  stowed  away  all  wooden  parts  and  castings  on  the  ridge  on 
the  port  side,  except  portions  of  hard  wood,  which  we  kept  on 
board,  and  found  very  useful  for  making  up  into  sledge-shafts  and 
other  things. 

The  weather  was  good  all  through  March.  April,  and  May, 
with  mild  easterly  breezes  or  calms,  and,  as  a  rule,  a  clear  atmos- 
phere. Once  or  twice  the  wind  veered  round  to  the  south  or 
west,  but  these  changes  were  invariably  of  short  duration.  This 
settled  calm  weather  at  last  became  quite  a  trial  to  us,  as  it  con- 
tributed in  a  great  measure  to  increase  the  dreariness  and  monot- 
ony of  the  scene  around  us,  and  had  a  depressing  effect  on  our 
spirits.  Matters  improved  a  little  towards  the  end  of  May,  when 
for  a  time  we  had  a  fresh  westerly  breeze.  To  be  sure  this  was 
a  contrary  wind,  but  it  was,  at  any  rate,  a  little  change.  On 
June  8th  the  wind  veered  round  to  the  east  again,  and  now  in- 
creased in  strength,  so  that  on  Sunday,  the  9th,  we  had  half  a 
gale  from  the  E.S.E.,  with  a  velocity  of  33  feet  per  second,  being 
the  strongest  fair  wind  we  had  had  for  a  long  time. 

It  was  astonishing  what  a  change  a  single  day  of  fair  wind 
would  work  in  the  spirits  of  all  on  board.  Those  who  previously 
moved  about  dreamily  and  listlessly  now  awakened  to  fresh 
courage  and  enterprise.  Every  face  beamed  with  satisfaction. 
Previously  our  daily  intercourse  consisted  of  the  monosyllables 
"Yes"  and  "  No  ";  now  we  were  brimming  over  with  jokes  and 
fun  from  morning  to  night :  laughter  and  song  and  lively  chat 
was  heard  all  around.  And  with  our  spirits  rose  our  hopes  for 
a  favorable  drift.     The  chart  was  brought  out  again  and  again, 


MARCH  13    TO  JUNE   22,  iSgs  619 

and  the  forecasts  made  were  apt  to  be  sanguine  enough.  "  If 
the  wind  keeps  long  in  this  quarter  we  shall  be  at  such  and  such 
a  spot  on  such  and  such  a  day.  It  is  as  clear  as  daylight  we 
shall  be  home  some  time  in  the  autumn  of  1896.  Just  see  how 
we  have  drifted  up  to  now,  and  the  farther  we  get  west  the  faster 
we  shall  go,"  and  so  forth. 

The  cold  which  in  the  middle  of  March  did  not  exceed— 40° 
C,  kept  steadily  at  from  —30°  to  —25°  during  April,  but  it  de- 
creased at  a  comparatively  rapid  rate  in  May,  so  that  by  about 
the  middle  of  the  month  the  thermometer  registered  —  14°,  and 
in  the  latter  part  only  —6°,  On  June  3d— so  far  the  warmest 
day — a  large  pond  of  water  had  formed  close  to  the  vessel, 
although  the  highest  temperature  attained  that  day  was  —2°, 
and  the  weather  was  overcast.* 

On  June  5th  the  thermometer  for  the  first  time  stood  above 
freezing-point — viz.,  at  +0.2°.  It  then  fell  again  for  a  few  days, 
going  down  to  —6°;  but  on  the  nth  it  rose  again  to  about  2° 
above  freezing-point,  and  so  on. 

The  amount  of  atmospheric  moisture  deposited  during  the 
above-mentioned  period  was  most  insignificant ;  only  a  very  slight 
snowfall  now  and  then.  However,  Thursday,  June  6th,  was  an 
exception.  The  wind,  which  for  several  days  had  been  blowing 
from  the  south  and  west,  veered  round  to  the  northwest  during 
the  night,  and  at  8  A.M.  next  morning  it  changed  to  the  north, 
blowing  a  fresh  breeze,  with  an  exceptionally  heavy  snowfall. 

We  saw  the  midnight  sun  for  the  first  time  during  the  night 
of  April  2d. 

One  of  the  scientific  tasks  of  the  expedition  was  to  investi- 
gate the  depth  of  the  Polar  Sea.  Our  lines,  which  were  weak 
and  not  very  suitable   for  this   purpose,  were  soon  so  worn  by 

*  On  April  i8th,  when  the  doctor  and  I  were  out  looking  for  a  suitable 
piece  of  ice  for  determining  the  specific  gravity  of  the  ice,  we  observed  a 
remarkable  drop  of  water  hanging  under  a  projecting  corner  of  a  large 
block  of  ice,  reared  up  high  by  pressure.  There  it  hung,  in  the  shade, 
quivering  in  the  fresh  breeze,  although  the  thermometer  registered  about 
-—23°  of  frost.  '■  That  must  be  very  salt,"  I  said,  and  tasted  it — "  Phew!" 
It  was  salt  in  very  truth — rank  salt,  like  the  strongest  brine. 


620  APPENDIX 

friction,  corrosion,  oxidation,  etc.,  that  we  were  compelled  not 
only  to  use  them  most  cautiously,  but  also  to  limit  the  number 
of  soundings  far  more  than  was  desirable.  It  sometimes  hap- 
pened that  the  line  would  break  while  being  hauled  in,  so  that  a 
good  deal  of  it  was  lost. 

The  first  sounding  after  the  departure  of  Dr.  Nansen  and  Jo- 
hansen  was  taken  on  April  23d.  We  thought  we  should  be  able 
to  lower  away  down  to  3000  metres  (1625  fathoms)  in  one  run, 
but  as  the  line  commenced  to  slacken  at  1900  metres  (1029 
fathoms)  we  thought  we  had  touched  bottom  and  hauled  the 
line  up  again.  As  it  appeared  that  the  line  had  not  reached 
the  bottom,  we  now  let  down  3000  metres  of  line  (1625  fath- 
oms), but  in  doing  so  we  lost  about  900  metres  of  line  (487 
fathoms).  Accordingly  I  assumed  that  we  had  touched  ground 
at  2100  metres  (1138  fathoms),  and  I  therefore  lowered  the 
line  to  that  depth  without  touching  bottom.  The  next  day 
we  took  new  soundings  at  depths  of  2100,  2300,  2500,  and 
3000  metres  respectively  (1137,  1245,  I353'  and  1625  fathoms), 
but  all  without  touching  bottom.  On  the  third  day,  April 
25th,  we  sounded  first  at  30CXD  metres,  and  then  at  3200  metres 
(1625  and  1733  fathoms)  without  touching  bottom.  The  steel- 
line  being  too  short  we  had  to  lengthen  it  with  a  hemp-line,  and 
now  went  down  to  3400  metres  (1841  fathoms).  While  hauling 
up  we  perceived  that  the  line  broke,  and  found  that,  in  addition 
to  the  no  fathoms'  length  of  hemp-line,  we  had  lost  about  275 
fathoms  of  steel-line.  We  then  stopped  taking  soundings  till 
July  22d,  as  the  hemp-lines  were  so  badly  worn  that  we  dared 
not  venture  to  use  them  again  until  milder  weather  set  in. 

Wind  and  weather  were,  of  course,  a  favorite  topic  on  board 
the  Frajii,  especially  in  connection  with  our  drift.  As  is  but 
right  and  proper,  we  had  a  weather-prophet  on  board — to  wit, 
Pettersen.  His  specialty  was  to  predict  fair  wind,  and  in  this 
respect  he  was  untiring,  although  his  predictions  were  by  no 
means  invariably  fulfilled.  But  he  also  posed  as  a  prophet  in 
other  departments,  and  nothing  seemed  to  delight  him  more 
than  the  offer  of  a  bet  with  him  on  his  predictions.  If  he 
won  he  was  beaming  with  good  humor  for  days  at  a  stretch, 


00 


MARCH  15    TO  JUNE   22,  1895  623 

« 
and  if  he  lost  he  often  knew  how  to  shroud  both  his  forecast 
and  the  result  in  oracular  mystery  and  darkness  so  that  both 
parties  appeared  to  be  right.  At  times,  as  already  hinted,  he 
was  unlucky,  and  then  he  was  mercilessly  chafTed  ;  but  at  other 
times  he  would  have  a  run  of  astounding  luck,  and  then  his 
courage  would  rise  to  such  an  extent  that  he  was  ready  to 
prophesy  and  bet  about  anything. 

Among  his  great  misfortunes  was  a  bet  made  with  the  mate 
on  May  4th  that  we  should  have  land  in  sight  by  the  end  of 
October.  And  on  May  24th  he  made  a  bet  with  Nordahl  that 
by  Monday  night  (the  27th)  we  should  be  at  80°  east  longitude. 
Needless  to  say  we  all  wished  that  his  incredible  predictions 
might  come  true;  but  alas!  the  miracle  did  not  happen,  for  it 
was  not  until  June  27th  that  the  Fraiu  passed  the  80th  degree 
of  longitude. 

During  the  latter  part  of  May  the  sun  and  the  spring  weather 
commenced  to  disperse  the  layer  of  snow  around  the  vessel  to 
such  an  extent  as  to  make  quite  a  little  pond  of  snow-water  on 
the  ice  forward.  As  at  that  part  especially,  but  also  all  along 
the  side  of  the  vessel,  the  snow  was  full  of  soot,  refuse,  and  the 
clearings  from  the  kennels,  it  was  greatly  to  be  feared  that  an 
injurious,  or,  at  any  rate,  obnoxious  smell  might  arise,  and  if, 
besides  this,  as  was  the  case  last  year,  a  pond  should  form  round 
the  vessel,  the  water  in  it  would  be  too  impure  to  be  used  in 
flushing  the  deck.  I  therefore  set  all  hands  to  work  to  cart 
away  the  snow  from  the  starboard  side — a  job  which  took  about 
two  days. 

The  setting  in  of  spring  now  kept  us  busy  with  various  things 
for  some  time,  both  on  board  and  on  the  ice.  One  of  the  first 
things  to  be  done  was  to  bring  our  depot  safely  on  board,  as 
lanes  and  rifts  were  now  forming  more  frequently  in  the  ice, 
and  some  of  the  goods  in  the  depot  would  not  bear  exposure  to 
damp. 

The  action  of  the  sun's  rays  on  the  awning  or  tent  soon  be- 
came so  strong  that  the  snow  underneath  the  boats  and  on  the 
davits  began  to  melt.  All  snow  and  ice  had  therefore  to  be  re- 
moved or  scraped  away  not  only  under  the  awning  but  also  under 


624  APPENDIX 

the  boats,  on  the  deck-house,  in  the  passage  on  the  starboard 
side,  in  the  holds,  and  wherever  else  it  was  necessary.  In  the 
after-hold  there  was  much  more  ice  now  than  last  winter,  proba- 
bly owing  to  the  fact  that  we  had  kept  the  saloon  much  warmer 
this  winter  than  before. 

In  the  saloon,  the  library,  and  the  cabins  we  had  a  thorough 
"  spring  cleaning."  This  was  very  badly  needed,  as  the  ceilings, 
walls,  and  all  the  furniture  and  fittings,  in  the  course  of  the  long 
polar  night,  had  got  covered  with  a  thick,  grimy-looking  coating 
composed  of  soot,  grease,  smoke,  dust,  and  other  ingredients. 

I  myself  took  in  hand  the  painting  of  the  saloon  and  of  my 
own  cabin,  which  little  by  little  had  assumed  the  same  dusky 
ground-tint  as  their  surroundings,  and  on  the  whole  looked  rather 
enigmatic.  By  dint  of  much  labor,  and  the  application  of  a  liberal 
supply  of  soap  and  water,  I  succeeded  in  restoring  them  to  some- 
thing like  their  pristine  beauty. 

We  finished  our  general  clean-up  on  Whitsun-eve,  June  ist, 
and  thus  spent  a  really  comfortable  Whitsuntide,  with  butter- 
porridge  for  supper  and  a  few  extra  delicacies  afterwards. 

After  Whitsuntide  we  again  took  in  hand  various  things  re- 
quired in  view  of  the  season,  and  of  the  possibility  that  the  Fram 
might  get  afloat  in  the  course  of  the  summer.  On  the  great 
hummock  were  many  things  I  thought  might  be  left  there  for 
the  present  —  for  instance,  the  greater  part  of  our  dogs'  food. 
The  cases  containing  this  were  piled  up  to  four  different  heights 
so  as  to  form  a  sloping  roof  off  which  the  water  could  easily  run, 
and  I  had  the  whole  covered  over  with  tarpaulin.  The  long- 
boat on  the  port  side,  which  I  proposed  to  leave  on  the  ice  till 
the  winter,  was  deposited  in  a  safe  place  about  50  yards  from 
the  ship,  and  provided  w^ith  sails,  rigging,  oars,  and  a  full  equip- 
ment, ready  for  any  emergency. 

The  scraping  away  of  the  ice  in  the  holds  and  on  the  half-deck 
was  finished  on  June  I2th.  We  tried  to  cut  the  steam-pipe  aft 
(the  pipe  for  rinse-water)  out  of  the  ice,  but  had  to  abandon  the 
attempt.  One  end  of  this  pipe  had  been  resting  ever  since  last 
year  on  the  ice,  and  it  was  now  so  deeply  frozen  in  that  we 
could  not   release  it.     We  cut  a  hole  all  round  it  4  feet  deep, 


I- 


MARCH  IS    TO  JUNE  22,  1895 


627 


but  the  hole  quickly  filled  with  water,  so  we  left  it  to  the  summer 
heat  to  thaw  the  pipe  loose. 

So  much  water  commenced  to  accumulate  in  the  engine-room 
about  this  time  that  we  had  to  bale  out  considerable  quantities 
• — certainly  130  gallons  per  day.  We  at  first  thought  that  the 
water  was  produced  by  the  thawing  of  the  ice  on  board,  but  it 


^7^'20rs7tA\ 


THE  " FRAM   BEFORE  HER  RELEASE 


subsequently  appeared  that  it  was  mainly  due  to  leakages,  which 
probably  arose  from  the  fact  that  ice  forming  in  the  different 
layers  of  the  ship's  skin  forced  the  planking  somewhat  apart. 

The  state  of  health  continued  excellent,  and  the  doctor  had 
virtually  nothing  to  do  in  his  professional  capacity.     In  the  way 


628  APPENDIX 

of  "casualties"  there  were  only  a  few  of  the  most  trifling  nature, 
such  as  a  frozen  big  toe,  a  little  skin-chafing  here  and  there,  a 
sore  eye  or  two  ;  that  was  all.  However,  we  led  a  very  regular 
life,  with  the  twenty-four  hours  suitably  distributed  between  work, 
exercise,  and  rest.  We  slept  well  and  fed  well,  and  so  we  were 
very  little  concerned  at  the  fact  that  when  being  weighed  on 
May  7th  we  were  found  to  have  lost  flesh.  However,  the  falling 
off  was  not  great ;  the  aggregate  weight  of  the  whole  party  was 
barely  8  pounds  less  than  the  month  before. 

There  was,  however,  one  complaint  that  we  suffered  from^ — a 
contagious  one,  though  not  of  a  dangerous  nature.  It  became  a 
fashion,  or,  if  you  like,  a  fashionable  complaint,  on  board  the 
Frani,  to  shave  one's  head.  It  was  said  that  an  infallible  method 
of  producing  a  more  luxuriant  growth  of  hair  was  to  shave  away 
the  little  hair  that  still  adorned  the  head  of  the  patient.  Juell  first 
started  it,  and  then  a  regular  mania  set  in,  the  others  following 
his  example  one  by  one,  with  the  exception  of  myself  and  one 
or  two  more.  Like  a  cautious  general,  I  first  waited  a  while  to 
see  whether  the  expected  harvest  sprouted  on  my  comrades' 
shaven  polls  ;  and  as  the  hair  did  not  seem  to  grow  any  stronger 
than  before,  I  preferred  a  recipe  ordered  by  the  doctor — viz.,  to 
wash  the  head  daily  with  soft  soap  and  subsequently  rub  in  an 
ointment.  To  make  this  treatment  more  effectual,  however, 
and  let  the  ointment  get  at  the  scalp,  I  followed  the  example  of 
the  others  and  shaved  my  head  several  times.  Personally  I  do 
not  believe  that  the  process  did  any  good,  but  Pettersen  was  of 
a  different  opinion.  "  The  deuce  take  me,"  said  he,  one  day 
afterwards  when  cutting  my  hair,  "  if  the  captain  hasn't  got 
some  jolly  strong  bristles  on  his  crown  after  that  treatment." 

The  Seventeenth  of  May  brought  the  finest  weather  that  could 
be  imagined.  A  clear,  bright  sky,  dazzling  sunshine,  io°  to  12^* 
of  cold,  and  an  almost  perfect  calm.  The  sun,  which  at  this  time 
of  the  year  never  sets  throughout  the  twenty -four  hours,  was 
already  high  in  the  heavens,  when  at  8  A.M.  we  were  awakened 
by  the  firing  of  a  gun,  and  by  joyous  strains  of  the  organ. 
We  jumped  into  our  clothes  more  speedily  than  usual,  swal- 
lowed our  breakfast,  and  with  the  liveliest  expectation  prepared 


a.  i..m  \ 


MARCH  13    TO  JUNE  22,  i8gs  ^31 

for  what  was  in  store  ;  for  the  "  Festival  Committee  "  had  been 
very  busy  the  previous  day.  Punctually  at  11  o'clock  the  vari- 
ous corporations  assembled  under  their  flags  and  insignia,  and 
were  assigned  their  position  in  the  grand  procession.  I  marched 
at  the  head  with  the  Norwegian  flag.  Next  came  Scott-Hansen 
with  the  Frams  pennant,  and  then  followed  Mogstad  with  the 
banner  of  the  Meteorological  Department,  richly  bedecked  with 
"cyclonic  centres"  and  "prospects  of  fair  weather."  He  was 
seated  on  a  box  covered  with  bearskin  placed  on  a  sledge  drawn 
by  seven  dogs,  the  banner  waving  behind  him  on  a  pole  rigged 
as  a  mast.  Amundsen  was  No.  4,  bearing  a  demonstration 
banner  in  favor  of  "  the  Pure  Flag,"  and  he  was  followed  by 
his  esquire,  Nordahl,  on  snow-shoes  with  a  spear  in  his  hand 
and  a  rifle  slung  on  his  back.  The  flag  showed  on  the  red 
ground  a  picture  of  an  old  Norwegian  warrior  breaking  his 
spear  over  his  knee,  with  the  inscription  "  Onward  !  Onward  ! 
[Fram  !  Fram  I],  ye  Norseman  !  Your  own  flag  in  your  own 
land.  What  we  do  we  do  for  Norway."  Fifth  in  the  proces- 
sion came  the  mate,  with  the  Norwegian  arms  on  a  red  back- 
ground, and  sixth  was  Pettersen  with  the  flag  of  the  Mechanical 
Department.  Last  came  the  "  Band,"  represented  by  Bentzen 
with  an  accordion.  The  procession  was  followed  by  the  public 
dressed  in  their  best — viz.,  the  doctor,  Juell,  and  Henriksen  in 
picturesque  confusion. 

To  the  waving  of  banners  and  strains  of  music  the  proces- 
sion wended  its  way  past  the  corner  of  the  University  (viz.,  the 
Frajii),  down  "  Karl  Johan's  Street  "  and  "  Church  Street  "  (a 
road  laid  out  by  Scott-Hansen  for  the  occasion  across  the  rift  in 
front  and  the  pressure-ridge),  past  Engebret's  (the  depot  on  the 
ice),  and  then  wheeled  round  to  the  "  Fortification  Parade"* 
(viz.,  the  top  of  the  great  hummock),  where  it  stopped  and  faced 
round  with  flags  erect. 

There  I  called  for  cheers  in  honor  of  the  festive  occasion, 
in  response  to  which  there  rose  a  ninefold  hurrah  from  the 
densely  packed  multitude. 

*  These  are  well-known  localities  in  Christiania,  Engebret's  being  a 
restaurant. 


632  APPENDIX 

At  exactly  12  o'clock  the  official  salute  of  the  Seventeenth 
May  was  fired  from  our  big  bow  guns.  Then  came  a  splendid 
banquet  ;  the  doctor  had  contributed  a  bottle  of  aqua  vitse, 
and  every  man  had  a  bottle  of  genuine  Crown  Malt  Extract, 
from  the  "  Royal  Brewery  "  in  Copenhagen. 

When  the  roast  was  served  Scott-Hansen  proposed  the  health 
of  our  dear  ones  at  home  and  of  our  two  absent  comrades,  who 
he  hoped  might  achieve  the  task  they  had  set  themselves  and 
return  home  safely.  This  toast  was  accompanied  by  a  salute  of 
two  guns. 

At  4  P.M.  a  great  popular  festival  was  held  on  the  ice.  The 
place  was  prettily  decorated  with  flags  and  other  emblems,  and 
the  programme  offered  a  rich  variety  of  entertainments.  There 
was  rope -dancing,  gymnastics,  shooting  at  running  hares,  and 
many  other  items.  The  public  were  in  a  highly  festive  mood 
throughout,  and  vigorously  applauded  the  artists  in  all  their  per- 
formances. After  a  supper  which  was  not  far  behind  the  dinner 
in  excellence  we  gathered  at  night  in  the  saloon  around  a  steam- 
ing bowl  of  punch.  The  doctor,  amid  loud  applause,  proposed 
the  health  of  the  organizing  committee,  and  I  proposed  the  Fram. 
After  this  we  kept  it  up  in  the  merriest  and  most  cordial  spirit  un- 
til far  into  the  night. 


N 


CHAPTER    II 
June  22  to  August  15,  1895 

As  spring  advanced  the  disturbance  in  the  ice  increased,  and 
new  lanes  and  pools  were  formed  in  every  direction.  At  the 
same  time  there  was  a  daily  increase  in  the  number  of  aquatic 
animals  and  birds  around  us. 

On  the  night  of  June  22d  I  was  awakened  by  the  watch, 
who  told  me  that  there  were  whales  in  the  lane  on  the  starboard 
side.  Every  one  hurried  on  deck,  and  we  now  saw  that  some 
seven  or  eight  female  narwhals  were  gambolling  in  the  channel 
close  upon  us.  We  fired  some  shots  at  them,  but  these  did  not 
seem  to  affect  them.  Later  in  the  day  I  went  after  them  in  the 
sealing-boat,  but  without  getting  within  range.  In  order  to  be 
able  to  give  effectual  chase,  should  they,  as  we  hoped,  pay  us  a 
visit  in  the  future,  we  made  ready  two  harpoon-bladders  and  an 
oak  anchor,  which  we  attached  to  the  end  of  the  harpoon  line. 
Should  the  whale,  when  harpooned,  prove  too  strong  for  us,  we 
would  let  go  the  anchor  and  the  bladders,  and  if  the  fates  were 
not  against  us,  we  might  be  successful. 

We  were  quite  anxious  to  try  the  new  apparatus,  and  there- 
fore kept  a  sharp  lookout  for  the  whales.  One  or  two  were  seen 
occasionally  in  the  channel,  but  they  disappeared  again  so 
quickly  that  we  had  no  time  to  pursue  them.  On  the  evening 
of  July  2d  we  had  the  prospect  of  a  good  hunt.  The  lane 
swarmed  with  whales,  and  we  quickly  started  out  with  the  boat 
in  pursuit.  But  this  time,  too,  they  were  so  shy  that  we  could 
not  get  at  them.  One  of  them  remained  some  time  in  a  small 
channel,  which  was  so  narrow  that  we  could  throw  across  it.  We 
attempted  to  steal  on  him  along  the  edge,  but  as  soon  as  we  had 


634  APPENDIX 

got  within  a  short  distance  of  him  he  took  alarm,  and  swam  out 
into  the  large  channel,  where  he  remained  rolling  about,  turning 
over  on  his  back  for  some  four  or  five  minutes  at  a  time  with  his 
head  above  water,  puffing  away,  and  positively  jeering  at  us. 
When  at  length  we  had  wearily  worked  our  way  back  again  to  the 
large  channel,  intending  to  assist  him  a  little  in  his  performances 
— pop,  a^way  he  went. 

Some  days  later  we  again  received  a  visit  from  a  troupe  of 
these  comedians  in  another  channel  newly  formed  in  close  prox- 
imity to  the  vessel.  Three  of  them  had  long,  heavy  tusks, 
which  they  showed  high  above  the  water,  and  then  used  to 
scratch  their  female  friends  on  the  back  with.  We  immediately 
prepared  ourselves  with  rifles  and  harpoons,  and  ran  towards  the 
channel  as  fast  as  our  legs  would  carry  us.  But  before  we  got 
there  the  beasts  had  fled.  It  was  of  no  use  trying  to  get  within 
range  of  these  shy  creatures,  so,  after  that,  as  a  rule,  we  allowed 
them  to  remain  unmolested. 

Once,  however,  during  the  spring  of  1896,  we  were  near 
catching  a  narwhal.  I  had  been  out  fowling,  and  was  just  busily 
taking  out  of  the  boat  the  birds  I  had  shot,  when  suddenly  a 
narwhal  appeared  in  the  channel  close  to  our  usual  landing- 
place,  where  the  harpoon  with  the  line  attached  lay  ready  for 
immediate  use.  I  quickly  seized  the  harpoon,  but  the  coil  of 
line  was  too  short,  and  when  I  had  got  this  right  the  whale  dived 
below  the  water,  just  as  I  was  ready  to  harpoon  him. 

An  occasional  large  seal  {PJioca  barbatd)  also  appeared  at  this 
time;  we  chased  them  sometimes,  but  without  success  ;  they  were 
too  shy. 

With  the  fowling  our  luck  was  better,  and  so  early  as  June 
7th  we  shot  so  many  black  guillemots,  gulls,  fulmars,  and  little 
auks  that  we  partook  on  that  day  of  our  first  meal  of  fresh  meat 
during  the  year.  The  flesh  of  these  birds  is  not,  as  a  rule,  valued 
very  much,  but  we  ate  it  with  ravenous  appetites,  and  found  that 
it  had  an  excellent  flavor — better  than  the  tenderest  young 
ptarmigan. 

One  day  three  gulls  appeared,  and  settled  down  at  some  dis- 
tance from  the  vessel.    Pettersen  fired  twice  at  them  and  missed. 


1 


"^^ 


> 
2; 

r  V 

r 

1    • 

> 

IT. 

H 

W 

r.1 

JUNE  22    TO   AUGUST  15,  iSgs  637 

they  meanwhile  resting  calmly  on  the  snow,  and  regarding  him 
with  intense  admiration.  Finally  they  flew  away,  accompanied 
by  sundry  blessings  from  the  hunter,  who  was  exasperated  at 
his  "  mishap,"  as  he  called  it.  The  eye-witnesses  of  the  bom- 
bardment had  another  idea  of  the  "mishap,"  and  many  were 
the  jokes  that  rained  down  upon  the  fellow  when  he  returned 
empty-handed. 

However,  Pettersen  soon  became  an  ardent  sportsman,  and 
declared  that  one  of  the  first  things  he  would  do  when  he  re- 
turned home  would  be  to  buy  a  fowling-piece.  He  appeared  to 
have  some  talent  as  a  marksman,  though  he  had  hardly  ever 
fired  a  shot  before  he  came  on  board  the  Fram.  Like  all  be- 
ginners, he  had  to  put  up  with  a  good  many  misses  before  he 
got  so  far  as  to  hit  his  mark.  But  practice  makes  perfect ;  and 
one  fine  day  he  began  to  win  our  respect  as  a  marksman,  for  he 
actually  hit  a  bird  on  the  wing.  But  then  came  a  succession  of 
"mishaps"  for  some  time,  and  he  lost  faith  in  his  power  of  kill- 
ing his  game  on  the  wing,  and  sought  less  ambitious  outlets  for 
his  skill.  Long  afterwards  the  real  cause  of  his  many  bad  shots 
came  to  light.  A  wag,  who  thought  that  Pettersen  was  doing 
too  much  execution  among  the  game,  had  quietly  reloaded  his 
cartridges,  so  that  Pettersen  had  all  the  time  been  shooting  with 
salt  instead  of  lead,  and  that,  of  course,  would  make  a  little 
difference. 

Besides  the  animals  named,  it  appears  that  Greenland  sharks 
are  also  found  in  these  latitudes.  One  day  Henriksen  went  to 
remove  the  blubber  from  some  bearskins,  which  he  had  had 
hanging  out  in  the  channel  for  a  week  or  so ;  he  found  that  the 
two  smallest  skins  had  been  nearly  devoured,  so  that  only  a  few 
shreds  were  left.  It  could  hardly  have  been  any  other  animal 
than  the  Greenland  shark  which  had  played  us  this  trick.  We 
put  out  a  big  hook  with  a  piece  of  blubber  on  it,  to  try  if  we 
could  catch  one  of  the  thieves,  but  it  was  of  no  use. 

One  day  in  the  beginning  of  August  the  mate  and  Mogstad 
were  out  upon  the  ice  trying  to  find  the  keel  of  the  petroleum 
launch,  which  had  been  forgotten.  They  said  that  they  had 
seen  fresh  tracks  of  a  bear,  which  had  been  trotting  about  the 


638  APPENDIX 

great  hummock.  It  was  now  almost  a  year  since  we  last  had 
a  bear  in  our  neighborhood,  and  we  felt,  therefore,  much  elated 
at  the  prospect  of  a  welcome  change  in  our  bill  of  fare.  For 
a  long  time,  however,  we  had  nothing  but  the  prospect.  True, 
Mogstad  saw  a  bear  at  the  great  hummock,  but,  as  it  was  far 
off  to  begin  with,  and  going  rapidly  farther,  it  was  not  pursued. 
Almost  half  a  year  elapsed  before  another  bear  paid  us  a  visit  — 
it  was  not  till  February  28,  1896. 

As  I  said  before,  the  Frani  had,  ever  since  the  first  week  in 
May,  been  fast  embedded  in  a  large  floe  of  ice,  which  daily 
diminished  in  extent.  Cracks  were  constantly  formed  in  all 
directions,  and  new  lanes  were  opened,  often  only  to  close  up 
again  in  a  few  hours.  When  the  edges  of  the  ice  crashed  against 
each  other  with  their  tremendous  force,  all  the  projecting  points 
were  broken  off,  forming  smaller  floes,  and  pushed  over  and 
under  each  other,  or  piled  up  into  large  or  small  hummocks, 
which  would  collapse  again  when  the  pressure  ceased,  and  break 
off  large  floes  in  their  fall.  In  consequence  of  these  repeated 
disturbances  the  cracks  in  our  floe  constantly  increased,  par- 
ticularly after  a  very  violent  pressure  on  July  14th,  when  rifts 
and  channels  were  formed  right  through  the  old  pressure-ridge 
to  port,  and  close  up  to  the  side  of  the  vessel,  so  that  it  ap- 
peared for  a  time  as  if  the  Fram  would  soon  slip  down  into  the 
water.  For  the  time  being,  however,  she  remained  in  her  old 
berth,  but  frequently  veered  round  to  different  points  of  the 
compass  during  all  these  disturbances  in  the  ice.  The  great 
hummock,  which  constantly  increased  its  distance  from  the 
vessel,  also  drifted  very  irregularly,  so  that  it  was  at  one  time 
abeam,  at  another  right  ahead. 

On  July  27th  there  was  a  disturbance  in  the  ice  such  as  we 
had  not  experienced  since  we  got  fast.  Wide  lanes  were  formed 
in  every  direction,  and  the  floe  upon  which  the  smith's  forge 
was  placed  danced  round  in  an  incessant  whirl,  making  us  fear 
we  might  lose  the  whole  apparatus  at  any  moment.  Scott-Hansen 
and  Bentzen,  who  were  just  about  to  have  a  sail  in  the  fresh 
breeze,  undertook  to  transport  the  forge  and  all  its  belongings  to 
the  floe  on  which  we  were  lying.     They  took  two  men  to  help 


^.Mtr 


Scott- Hansen  Nordahl 

MOVABLE   METEOROLOGICAL  STATION  ON  THE   ICE.     JULY,  1 895 


{From  a  photograph) 


JUNE   22    TO   AUGUST  15,  iSgs  641 

them,  and  succeeded,  with  great  difficulty,  in  saving  the  things. 
At  the  same  time  there  was  a  violent  disturbance  in  the  water 
around  the  vessel.  She  turned  round  with  the  floe,  so  that  she 
rapidly  came  to  head  W,  i  S.,  instead  of  N.E.  All  hands 
were  busy  getting  back  into  the  ship  all  the  things  which  had 
been  placed  upon  the  floes,  and  this  was  successfully  accom- 
plished, although  it  was  no  trifling  labor,  and  not  without  danger 
to  the  boats,  owing  to  the  strong  breeze  and  the  violent  working 
of  the  floes  and  blocks  of  ice.  The  floe  with  the  ruins  of  the 
forge  was  slowly  bearing  away  in  the  same  direction  as  the  great 
hummock,  and  served  for  some  time  as  a  kind  of  beacon  for  us. 
Indeed,  in  the  distance  it  looked  like  one,  crowned  as  it  was  on 
its  summit  with  a  dark  skull-cap,  a  huge  iron  kettle,  which  lay 
there  bottom  upward.  The  kettle  was  originally  bought  by 
Trontheim,  and  came  on  board  at  Khabarova,  together  with  the 
dogs.  He  had  used  it  on  the  trip  through  Siberia  for  cooking 
the  food  for  the  dogs.  We  used  to  keep  blubber  and  other  dogs' 
food  in  it.  In  the  course  of  its  long  service  the  rust  had  eaten 
holes  in  the  bottom,  and  it  was  therefore  cashiered,  and  thrown 
away  upon  the  pressure-ridge  close  to  the  smithy.  It  now  served, 
as  I  have  said,  as  a  beacon,  and  is  perhaps  to-day  drifting  about 
in  the  Polar  Sea  in  that  capacity  —  unless  it  has  been  found  and 
taken  possession  of  by  some  Eskimo  housewife  on  the  east  coast 
of  Greenland. 

As  the  sun  and  mild  weather  brought  their  influence  to  bear 
upon  the  surface  of  the  ice  and  the  snow,  the  vessel  rose  daily 
higher  and  higher  above  the  ice,  so  that  by  July  23d  we  had 
three  and  a  half  planks  of  the  greenheart  ice-hide  clear  on  the 
port  side  and  ten  planks  to  starboard.  In  the  evening  of  August 
8th  our  floe  cracked  on  the  port,  and  th.Q Fram  altered  her  list  from 
7°  to  port  to  1.5°  starboard  side,  with  respectively  four  and  two 
planks  of  the  ice-hide  clear,  and  eleven  bow-irons  clear  forward. 

I  feared  that  the  small  floe  in  which  we  were  now  embedded 
might  drift  off  down  the  channel  if  the  ice  slackened  any  more, 
and  I  therefore  ordered  the  mate  to  moor  the  vessel  to  the  main 
flow,  where  many  of  our  things  were  stored.  The  order,  how- 
ever, was  not  quickly  enough  executed,  and  when  I  came  on 
II.-41 


642  APPENDIX 

deck  half  an  hour  later  the  Frani  was  already  drifting  down 
through  the  channel.  All  hands  were  called  up  immediately, 
and  with  our  united  strength  we  succeeded  in  hauling  the  vessel 
up  to  the  floe  again  and  mooring  her  securely. 

As  we  were  desirous  of  getting  the  Fram  quite  clear  of  the 
ice-bed  in  which  she  had  been  lying  so  long,  I  determined  to  try 
blasting  her  loose.  The  next  day,  therefore,  August  9th,  at 
7.30  P.M.,  we  fired  a  mine  of  about  7  pounds  of  gunpowder, 
placed  under  the  floe  6  feet  from  the  stern  of  the  vessel. 
There  was  a  violent  shock  in  the  vessel  when  the  mine  exploded, 
but  the  ice  was  apparently  unbroken.  A  lively  discussion  arose 
touching  the  question  of  blasting.  The  majority  believed  that 
the  mine  was  not  powerful  enough ;  one  even  maintained  that 
the  quantity  of  gunpowder  used  should  have  been  40  or  50 
pounds.  But  just  as  we  were  in  the  heat  of  the  debate  the  floe 
suddenly  burst.  Big  lumps  of  ice  from  below  the  ship  came 
driving  up  through  the  openings :  the  Fram  gave  a  great  heave 
with  her  stern,  started  forward  and  began  to  roll  heavily,  as  if  to 
shake  off  the  fetters  of  ice,  and  then  plunged  with  a  great  splash 
out  into  the  water.  The  way  on  her  was  so  strong  that  one  of 
the  bow  hawsers  parted,  but  otherwise  the  launch  went  so 
smoothly  that  no  ship-builder  could  have  wished  it  better.  We 
moored  the  stern  to  the  solid  edge  of  ice  by  means  of  ice- 
anchors,  which  we  had  recently  forged  for  this  purpose. 

Scott-Hansen  and  Pettersen,  however,  were  very  near  getting 
a  cold  bath.  Having  laid  the  mine  under  the  floe,  they  placed 
themselves  abaft  with  the  "  pram,"  *  in  order  to  haul  in  the 
string  of  the  fuse.  When  the  floe  burst,  and  the  Fram  plunged, 
and  the  remainder  of  the  floe  capsized  as  soon  as  it  became  free 
of  its  600  tons'  burden,  the  two  men  in  the  boat  were  in  no 
pleasant  predicament  right  in  the  midst  of  the  dangerous  mael- 
strom of  waves  and  pieces  of  ice  ;  their  faces,  especially  Petter- 
sen's,  were  worth  seeing  while  the  boat  was  dancing  about  with 
them  in  the  caldron. 

The  vessel  now  had   a  slight   list  to  starboard  (0.75°),  and 

*  A  small  keelless  boat. 


JUNE  22    TO   AUGUST  15,  iSgs 


643 


floated  considerably  lighter  upon  the  water  than  before,  as  three 
oak  planks  were  clear  to  starboard,  and  somewhat  more  to  port, 
with  nine  bow-irons  clear  forward.  So  far  as  we  could  see,  her 
hull  had  suffered  no  damage  whatever,  either  from  the  many  and 
occasionally  violent  pressures  to  which  she  had  been  subjected, 
or  from  the  recent  launching. 

The  only  fault  about  the  vessel  was  that  she  still  leaked  a 
little,  rendering  it  necessary  to  use  the  pumps  frequently.  For  a 
short  time,  indeed,  she  was  nearly  tight,  which  made  us  inclined 
to  believe  that  the  leakage  must  be  above  the  water-line,  but  we 
soon  found  we  were  in  error  about  this,  when  she  began  to  make 
more  water  than  ever. 

For  the  rest,  she  was  lying  very  well  now,  with  the  port  side 
along  an  even  and  rather  low  edge  of  ice,  and  with  an  open 
channel  to  starboard  ;  the  channel  soon  closed  up,  but  still  left  a 
small  opening,  about  200  yards  long  and  120  yards  wide.  I  only 
wished  that  winter  would  soon  come,  so  that  we  might  freeze 
securely  into  this  favorable  position.  But  it  was  too  early  in 
the  year,  and  there  was  too  much  disturbance  in  the  ice  to 
allow  of  that.  We  had  still  many  a  tussle  to  get  through  before 
the  Ft  am  settled  in  her  last  winter  haven. 

Our  drift  westward  in  the  latter  half  of  June  and  the  greater 
part  of  July  was,  on  the  whole,  satisfactory.  I  give  the  following 
observations : 


Direction  of 

Date 

Latitude 

Longitude 

Wind 

0        ' 

0 

June  22d 

84     32 

80 

58 

N. 

June  27th 

84     44 

79 

35 

N.  bv  E. 

June  29th  . 

84     33 

79 

50 

E.N.'E. 

July  5th     . 

84    48 

75 

3 

S.E. 

July  7th     . 

84    48 

74 

7 

W.S.W. 

July  1 2th  . 

84    41 

76 

20 

W.S.W. 

July  22d     . 

84     36 

72 

56 

N.N.W. 

July  27th  . 

84     29 

73 

49 

S.W.  by  S. 

July  31st    . 

84     27 

76 

10 

S.W. 

August  8th 

84     38 

n 

36 

N.W. 

August  22d 

84      9 

78 

47 

S.W. 

August  25th 

84     17 

79 

0 

E.  by  N. 

September  2d 

84    47 

n 

17 

S.E. 

September  6th 

84    43 

79 

52 

S.W. 

644  APPENDIX 

As  will  be  seen  from  the  above,  there  were  comparatively 
small  deviations  towards  the  south  and  the  north  in  the  line  of  the 
drift,  whereas  the  deviations  to  east  and  west  were  much  greater. 

From  June  22d  to  the  29th  it  bore  rapidly  westward,  then 
back  some  distance  in  the  beginning  of  July  ;  again  for  a  couple 
of  days  quickly  towards  the  west,  and  then  a  rapid  return  till 
July  1 2th.  From  this  day  until  the  22d  we  again  drifted  well 
to  the  west,  to  72°  56',  but  from  that  time  the  backward  drift 
predominated,  placing  us  at  79*^  52'  on  September  6th,  or  about 
the  same  longitude  as  we  started  from  on  June  29th. 

During  this  period  the  weather  was,  on  the  whole,  fair  and 
mild.  Occasionally  we  had  some  bad  weather,  with  drift-snow 
and  sleet,  compelling  us  to  stay  indoors.  However,  the  bad 
weather  did  not  worry  us  much ;  on  the  contrary,  we  looked 
rather  eagerly  for  changes  in  the  weather,  especially  if  they 
revived  our  hopes  of  a  good  drift  westward,  with  a  prospect  of 
soon  getting  out  of  our  prison.  It  must  not  be  understood  that 
we  dreaded  another  winter  in  the  ice  before  getting  home.  We 
had  provisions  enough,  and  everything  else  needful  to  get  over 
some  two  or  three  polar  winters,  if  necessary,  and  we  had  a  ship 
in  which  we  all  placed  the  fullest  confidence,  in  view  of  the  many 
tests  she  had  been  put  to.  We  were  all  sound  and  healthy,  and 
had  learned  to  stick  ever  closer  to  one  another  for  better  and  for 
worse. 

With  regard  to  Nansen  and  Johansen,  hardly  any  of  us  enter- 
tained serious  fears ;  however  dangerous  their  trip  was,  we  were 
not  afraid  that  they  would  succumb  to  their  hardships  on  the 
way,  and  be  prevented  from  reaching  Franz  Josef  Land,  and 
thence  getting  back  to  Norway  before  the  year  was  out.  On 
the  contrary,  we  rejoiced  at  the  thought  that  they  would  soon 
be  home,  telling  our  friends  that  we  were  getting  on  all  right, 
and  that  there  was  every  prospect  of  our  return  in  the  autumn 
of  1896.  It  is  no  wonder,  however,  that  we  were  impatient,  and 
that  both  body  and  soul  suffered  when  the  drift  was  slow,  or 
when  a  protracted  contrary  wind  and  back-drift  seemed  to  make 
it  highly  improbable  that  we  should  be  able  to  reach  home  by 
the  time  we  were  expected. 


> 

X 
H 

O 
> 

r 

X 
o 

N 

o 

2: 


CO 
en 


JUNE   22    TO  AUGUST  is,  iSgs  647 

Furthermore,  the  most  important  part  of  our  mission  was  in 
a  way  accompHshed.  There  was  hardly  any  prospect  that  the 
drift  would  carry  us  much  farther  northward  than  we  were  now, 
and  whatever  could  be  done  to  explore  the  regions  to  the  north 
would  be  done  by  Nansen  and  Johansen.  It  was  our  object, 
therefore,  in  compliance  with  the  instructions  from  Dr.  Nansen, 
to  make  for  open  water  and  home  by  the  shortest  way  and  in 
the  safest  manner,  doing,  however,  everything  within  our  power 
to  carry  home  with  us  the  best  possible  scientific  results.  These 
results,  to  judge  from  our  experience  up  to  this  point,  were 
almost  a  foregone  conclusion — to  wit,  that  the  Polar  Sea  retained 
its  character  almost  unchanged  as  we  drifted  westward,  showing 
the  same  depths,  the  same  conditions  of  ice  and  currents,  and 
the  same  temperatures.  No  islands,  rocks,  shoals,  and,  still  less, 
no  mainland,  appeared  in  the  neighborhood  of  our  frequently 
irregular  course ;  wherever  we  looked  there  was  the  same  mo- 
notonous and  desolate  plain  of  more  or  less  rugged  ice,  hold- 
ing us  firmly,  and  carrying  us  willy-nilly  along  with  it.  Our 
scientific  observations  were  continued  uninterruptedly,  as  regu- 
larly and  accurately  as  possible,  and  comprised,  besides  the  usual 
meteorological  observations,  soundings,  measurement  of  the 
thickness  of  the  ice,  longitude  and  latitude,  taking  the  tem- 
perature of  the  sea  at  various  depths,  determining  its  salinity, 
collecting  specimens  of  the  fauna  of  the  sea,  magnetic  and  elec- 
trical observations,  and  so  forth. 


CHAPTER   III 

August  15  to  January  i,  1896 

With  the  rise  in  the  temperature  the  snow  surface  became 
daily  worse,  so  that  it  was  seldom  fit  for  snow-shoeing :  even 
with  "truger"*  on  it  was  most  laborious  to  get  along,  for  the 
snow  was'  so  soft  that  we  sank  in  up  to  our  knees.  Now 
and  then  for  an  odd  day  or  so  the  surface  would  be  fit,  even 
in  the  month  of  July,  and  we  took  these  opportunities  of  mak- 
ing short  excursions  for  shooting  and  the  like.  Then  the  sur- 
face would  be  as  bad  as  ever  again,  and  one  day  when  I  had 
to  go  out  on  the  ice  to  fetch  a  fulmar  which  had  been  wounded, 
the  snow  was  so  soft  that  I  constantly  sank  in  up  to  my  waist. 
Before  I  could  reach  the  bird  the  whole  pack  of  dogs  came 
tearing  by,  got  hold  of  it,  and  killed  it.  One  of  the  dogs  seized 
the  bird  in  his  mouth,  and  then  there  was  a  wild  race  between 
it  and  the  others.  At  last  the  whole  pack  turned  back  towards 
the  lane  in  the  ice  again,  and  I  watched  my  opportunity  and 
snatched  the  bird  from  them.  I  had  paid  pretty  dearly  for  my 
booty,  all  spent  and  dripping  with  perspiration  as  I  was  from 
plodding  through  that  bottomless  morass  of  snow. 

Our  chief  occupation  was  still  the  work  at  our  sledges  and 
kayaks.  The  sledges,  which  were  all  brought  on  board  from 
the  great  hummock  where  they  had  lain  all  the  winter,  were  re- 
paired and  fitted  with  runners.  By  July  i6th  they  were  all  in 
good  order — eight  hand-sledges  and  two  dog-sledges. 

The  kayaks,  upon  which  we  had  long  been  engaged,  were 
finished  about  the  same  time.  We  had  now  in  all  five  double 
and  one  single  kayak.  Of  these  I  myself  made  one,  the  single 
kayak,  which  weighed  32  pounds.  All  of  them  were  tested  in 
the  channel,  and  proved  sound  and  watertight.     Both  the  kayaks 

*  A  round  wicker  snow-shoe  like  a  basket-lid. 


AUGUST  15    TO  JANUARY  /,  i8g6 


649 


and  the  sledges  were  hoisted  on  the  davnts,  so  that  they  could  be 
let  down  at  a  moment's  notice  in  case  of  need. 

The  petroleum  launch,  which  was  of  no  use  to  us  as  it  was,  but 
would  afford  good  materials  for  runners  and  other  things,  was 
brought  from  the  great  hummock  and  taken  to  pieces.  It  was 
built  of  choice  elm,  and  a  couple  of  planks  were  immediately 
used  for  runners  to  those  of  the  sledges,  which,  for  lack  of  ma- 
terial, were  as  yet  unprovided  with  these  appliances. 

The  medicine-chest,  which  had  also  lain  in  depot  at  the  great 
hummock,  was  fetched  and  stowed  away  in  one  of  the  long- 
boats, which  had  been  placed  on  the  pressure-ridge  hard  by  the 
ship.  The  contents  had  taken  no  harm,  and  nothing,  had  burst 
with  the  frost,  although  there  were  several  medicines  in  the 
chest  which  contained  no  more  than  10  per  cent,  of  alcohol. 

At  that  time  we  were  also  busy  selecting  and  weighing  provis- 
ions and  stores  for  eleven  men  for  a  seventy  days'  sledging  expedi- 
tion and  a  six  months'  sojourn  on  the  ice.  The  kinds  of  provisions 
and  their  weight  will  be  seen  from  the  accompanying  table  : 


Seventy  Days'  Sledge  Provisions  for  Eleven 


Cadbury's  chocolate,  5  boxes  of  48  pounds 

Meat  chocolate 

Wheaten  bread,  16  boxes  of  44  pounds 
Danish  butter,  12  tins  of  28  pounds 
Lime-juice  tablets  .... 
Fish  flour  (Professor  Vage's) 
Viking  potatoes,  3  tins  of  26  pounds 
Knorr's  pea-soup    . 
lentil-soup 
"        bean-soup  . 
Bov^ril,  2  boxes 
Vril-food,  I  box 
Oatmeal,  i  box 
Serin  powder,  i  box 
Aleuronate  bread,  5  boxes  of  50  pound 
Pemmican,  6  boxes 
7  sacks 
Liver,  i  sack     . 

Total  . 

Besides  these  we  took  salt,  pepper,  and  mustard 


Men 

Pounds 
240 

25 
704 

2 
50 
78 

5 

5 

5 

104 

48 
80 

50 
250 

340 
592 
102 

3016 


650 


APPENDIX 


Provisions  for  Eleven  Men  during  a  Six  Months'  Stay 
ON  the  Ice 


Roast  and  boiled  beef,  14  tins  of  72  pounds 

Minced  collops,  3  tins  of  48  pounds. 

Corned  beef,  3  tins  of  84  pounds  . 

Compressed  ham,  3  tins  of  84  pounds 

Corned  mutton,  17  tins  of  6  pounds 

Bread,  37  tins  of  50  pounds  . 

Knorr's  soups,  various,  2  tins  of  56^  pounds 

Vegetables:  white  cabbage,  julienne,  pot-herbs 

Flour,  sugar,  3  cases  of  40  pounds 

Oatmeal,  4  cases  of  80  pounds 

Groats,  4  cases  of  80  pounds 

Cranberry,  2  cases  of '10  pounds 

Margarine,  20  jars  of  28  pounds 

Lunch  tongue,  i  case 

Danish  butter,  2  cases 

Stearine  candles,  5  cases 

Preserved  fish,  i  tin 

Macaroni,  i  case 

Viking  potatoes,  4  cases 

Vage's  fish  flour,  2  cases 

Frame-food  jelly,  i  jar 

Marmalade  jelly,  i  jar 

Lime-juice  jelly,  i  jar 

Cadbury's  chocolate,  3  cases 

Lactoserin  cocoa,  i  case 

Milk,  10  cases  of  48  tins 

Tea,  I  case 

English  pemmican,  13  cases 

Danish  pemmican,  i  case 

Dried  liver  patties,  3  cases 

Vril-food,  5  cases     . 


Pounds 
1008 
144 
252 
252 
102 
1850 

60 
120 
320 
320 

20 
560 

20 

200 
22 

50 
208 
200 
190 

54 

54 
144 

18 
480 

20 
756 

68 
204 
208 


Besides  these,  2  tins  of  salt,  i  tin  of  mustard,  and  i  tin  of  pepper. 

When  all  the  stores  were  ready  and  packed,  they  were  pro- 
visionally stowed  at  certain  fixed  points  on  deck,  under  the  awn- 
ing forward.  I  did  not  want  them  taken  out  on  the  ice  until 
later  in  the  year,  or  until  circumstances  rendered  it  necessary. 
We  had  still  abundance  of  coal — about  100  tons.  I  considered 
that  20  tons  would  be  about  enough  for  six  months'  consump- 


AUGUST  15    TO  JANUARY  /,  1896  651 

tion  on  the  ice.  With  that  quantity,  therefore,  we  filled  butts, 
casks,  and  sacks,  and  took  it  out  on  the  ice,  together  with  1400 
pounds  of  tinned  potatoes,  about  45  gallons  of  petroleum,  about 
80  gallons  of  gas-oil,  and  about  34  gallons  of  coal-oil. 

As  the  ship  was  still  deeply  laden,  I  wished  to  lighten  her  as 
much  as  possible,  if  only  it  could  be  managed  without  exposing 
to  risk  any  of  the  stores  which  had  to  be  unloaded.  After  the 
windmill  was  worn  out  and  taken  away  we  had,  of  course,  no  use 
for  the  battery  and  dynamo,  so  we  took  the  whole  concern  to 
pieces  and  packed  it  up,  with  lamps,  globes,  and  everything  be- 
longing to  it.  The  same  was  done  with  the  petroleum  motor.  The 
"horse-mill"  was  also  taken  down  and  put  out  on  the  ice,  with 
a  lot  of  heavy  materials.  One  long-boat  had  been  put  out  earlier, 
and  now  we  took  the  other  down  from  the  davits  and  took  it  up 
to  the  great  hummock.  But  as  the  hummock  shortly  afterwards 
drifted  a  good  way  off  from  us,  the  boat,  with  everything  else 
that  lay  there,  was  brought  back  again  and  placed  upon  the  great 
ice-floe  to  which  we  were  moored — our  "  estate,"  as  we  used  to 
call  it.  On  top  of  the  davits,  and  right  aft  to  the  half-deck,  we 
ran  a  platform  of  planks,  on  which  the  sledges,  kayaks,  and 
other  things  were  to  be  laid  up  in  the  winter. 

On  July  22d  we  continued  our  deep-sea  soundings,  taking 
two  on  that  day,  the  first  to  1354  fathoms  (2500  metres)  and 
the  second  to  1625  fathoms  (3000  metres),  without  touching 
bottom  either  time.  In  order  to  make  sure  that  the  lead  should 
sink,  we  lowered  away  the  line  very  slowly,  so  that  it  took  two 
hours  and  a  quarter  to  reach  a  depth  of  3000  metres.  On  the  23d 
we  again  took  two  soundings,  one  of  1840  fathoms  (3400  metres), 
without  finding  bottom,  and  then  one  in  which  we  found  bottom 
at  2056  fathoms  (3800  metres).  It  took  two  hours  and  a  half  to 
lower  the  lead  to  the  latter  depth.  Finally,  on  July  24th  we 
again  took  a  sounding  of  3600  metres  without  finding  bottom, 
and  therefore  concluded  the  depth  to  be  from  3700  to  3800 
metres. 

On  July  7th  the  doctor  rowed  out  in  the  "  pram  "  in  search 
of  algae,  but  came  back  empty-handed.  There  were  remarkably 
few  algae  to  be  found  this  summer,  nor  did  there  seem  to  be 


652  APPENDIX 

so  much  animal  life  in  the  water  as  there  had  been  the  year 
before. 

For  a  few  days  after  she  got  loose,  the  Frain  lay  in  a  very 
good  position  in  the  pool;  but  during  the  night  of  August  14th 
a  high  block  of  ice  came  floating  down  the  lane,  which  had  now 
widened  a  little,  and  jammed  itself  between  the  ship's  side  and 
the  farther  edge  of  the  pool,  which  it  thus  entirely  blocked. 
As  we  did  not  like  having  this  uncomfortable  and  dangerous 
colossus  close  at  our  side,  in  case  we  should  remain  at  the  same 
spot  throughout  the  autumn  and  winter,  we  determined  to  blast 
it  away.  Scott-Hansen  and  Nordahl  at  once  took  this  in  hand, 
and  accomplished  the  task  after  several  days'  labor. 

On  Saturday  afternoon,  August  i/tli,  a  pretty  strong  ice- 
pressure  suddenly  set  in  around  us.  In  the  course  of  a  few  min- 
utes the  Fram  was  lifted  22  inches  by  the  stern,  and  14  inches 
by  the  bow.  In  stately  fashion,  with  no  noise,  and  without 
heeling  over  in  the  least,  the  heavy  vessel  was  swiftly  and  lightly 
raised,  as  if  she  had  been  a  feather  —  a  spectacle  at  once  impres- 
sive and  reassuring. 

The  next  day  the  ice  slackened  a  little  again,  and  the  ship 
was  once  more  afloat.  So  it  lay  quietly  until  the  morning  of  the 
2 1st,  when  another  strong  pressure  began.  The  ship  now  lay  in 
a  very  awkward  position,  with  a  high  hummock  on  each  side, 
which  gripped  her  amidships  for  a  space  of  about  9  yards,  and 
screwed  her  up  6  or  8  inches.  But  the  pressure  ended  in  half  an 
hour  or  so,  and  the  Fram  sank  again  into  her  former  berth. 

When  there  were  symptoms  of  pressure  we  always  tried  to 
warp  the  ship  as  far  away  as  possible  from  the  threatening  point, 
and  occasionally  we  succeeded.  But  during  the  stormy  weather, 
with  southerly  winds,  which  prevailed  at  this  time,  it  was  often 
quite  impossible  to  get  her  to  budge  ;  for  she  offered  a  great 
surface  to  the  wind,  with  her  heavy  rigging  and  the  high  awning 
forward.  Our  united  forces  were  often  unable  to  move  her  an 
inch,  and  ice-anchors,  moorings,  and  warping-cables  were  per- 
petually breaking. 

At  last,  on  August  22d,  we  succeeded  in  warping  the  ship 
along  a  bit,  so  that  we  might  hope  to  escape  pressure  if  the  ice 


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AUGUST  IS    TO  JANUARY  /,  iSg6  655 

should  again  begin  to  pinch.  As  the  ice  soon  after  slackened  a 
good  deal,  and  became  more  broken  than  before,  we  some  days 
later  made  another  attempt  to  haul  her  a  little  farther,  but  had 
soon  to  give  it  up  ;  there  was  not  enough  space  between  the  two 
great  floes  on  either  hand  of  us.  We  now  lay  at  the  same  spot 
until  September  2d,  with  half  a  gale  blowing  continually  from 
the  southwest,  and  with  heavy  rain  now  and  then.  On  the  even- 
ing of  August  30th,  for  instance,  we  had  a  violent  rain-storm, 
which  loosened  the  ice-coating  of  the  rigging  and  made  a  fright- 
ful racket  as  it  brought  the  pieces  of  ice  clattering  down  upon 
the  deck,  the  deck-house,  and  the  awning. 

Our  "  estate  "  was  very  thoroughly  ploughed,  harrowed,  and 
drained  at  this  time  by  wind,  rain,  pressure,  and  other  such 
doughty  laborers.  Then  came  the  tiresome  business  of  moving 
the  things  out  from  the  ship,  which  involved  the  cutting  up  and 
parcelling  out  of  almost  the  whole  "  estate,"  so  that  what  was 
left  open  to  us  was  scanty  and  cramped  enough. 

Thus  reduced,  the  "  estate  "  now  formed  an  approximately 
oblong  floe,  with  its  greatest  length  from  east  to  west,  and  sur- 
rounded on  all  sides  by  more  or  less  open  rifts  and  lanes.  The 
Frain  lay  moored  to  the  north  side  close  to  the  northeast  point, 
with  her  bow  heading  west.  Immediately  astern  of  her,  and  sepa- 
rated from  the  point  only  by  a  narrow  lane,  lay  a  large  floe,  upon 
which  was  stowed,  among  other  things,  a  part  of  our  provision  of 
coal.  Far  off  to  the  westward  the  great  hummock  still  lay  drifting. 

While  the  other  sides  of  the  "  estate  "  were  pretty  nearly 
straight,  the  east  side  formed  a  concave  arc  or  bay,  which  offered 
an  excellent  winter  berth  for  the  Frani.  But  there  was  no 
possibility  of  getting  the  ship  into  it  so  long  as  the  channel  be- 
tween the  "  estate  "  and  the  floe  to  eastward  remained  closed. 
Late  in  the  afternoon  of  September  2d  the  ice  at  last  slackened 
so  much  that  we  could  make  an  attempt.  By  the  help  of  our 
tackle  we  managed  to  get  her  warped  a  ship's  length  eastward, 
but  it  was  impossible  for  the  moment  to  get  her  any  farther,  as 
the  new  ice  was  already  pretty  thick  (the  night  temperature  was 
—  5°  C),  and  also  a  good  deal  packed.  Nor  was  it  any  use  to 
bring  the  ice-saw  into  play  and  cut  a  channel,  for  the  slush  was 


656  APPENDIX 

so  deep  that  we  could  not  shove  the  fragments  aside  or  under 
each  other. 

The  next  day  began  with  half  a  gale  from  the  southeast 
and  rain  ;  but  at  6  o'clock  the  wind  moderated  and  veered  to 
the  south,  and  at  8  o'clock  the  ice  around  the  lane  began  to 
slacken  a  good  deal.  As  there  was  now  more  room,  we  made 
good  progress  with  cutting  our  way  through  the  new  ice,  and 
before  midday  we  had  got  the  Frani  hauled  into  the  bay  and 
moored  in  the  winter  harbor  which  we  all  hoped  might  prove 
her  last. 

When  Nansen  and  Johansen  set  out,  they  left  seven  dogs 
behind,  the  bitch  "Sussi"  and  the  six  youngest  puppies: 
"  Kobben,"  "  Snadden,"  "  Bella,"  "  Skvint,"  "  Axel,"  and 
"Boris."  On  April  25th  "  Sussi "  gave  birth  to  twelve  pup- 
pies. We  had  made  a  cozy  little  kennel  for  her  on  deck, 
lining  it  with  reindeer -skin.  Petterson  came  down  in  the 
morning,  and  told  us  that  "  Sussi "  was  running  round  whin- 
ing and  howling.  Mogstad  and  I  went  up  and  shut  her  into 
the  kennel,  where  she  at  once  gave  birth  to  a  puppy.  When 
the  afternoon  came,  and  we  saw  that  more  and  more  citizens 
were  being  added  to  our  community,  we  feared  that  the  mother 
would  not  be  able  to  warm  all  her  litter,  and  consequently  re- 
moved the  whole  family  into  the  saloon.  All  the  puppies  were 
large  and  handsome,  most  of  them  quite  white,  and  looking  as 
though  they  would  turn  out  regular  little  "  bjelkier,"  as  the  Samo- 
yedes  call  all  white  dogs.  They  grew  and  throve  excellently  as 
saloon  passengers,  and  were  petted  and  spoiled  by  every  one. 
They  made  their  home  in  the  saloon  for  a  month,  and  then  we 
transferred  them  to  the  above-mentioned  kennel  on  deck.  After 
they  had  been  up  there  for  some  weeks  it  appeared  as  though 
they  had  suddenly  stopped  growing,  although  they  were  con- 
stantly well  fed  with  raw  bear's-flesh,  milk,  and  the  broken  meat 
from  our  table.  About  the  second  week  of  August  two  of  the 
puppies  died  of  convulsions.  The  doctor  managed  to  save  a 
third  by  means  of  warm  baths  and  careful  nursing.  At  the 
end  of  the  month  another  of  them  was  seized  with  convulsions 
and  died,  although  it,  too,  was   treated  with  warm    baths   and 


AUGUST  15    TO  JANUARY  i,  jSg6  657 

comfortably  housed,  first  in  the  saloon,  and  afterwards  in  the 
work-room. 

In  the  beginning  of  September,  when  the  frequent  rain  made 
things  very  moist  and  uncomfortable  in  the  kennel  and  on  deck, 
we  built  a  kennel  out  on  the  ice  with  a  tarpaulin  roof  and  a 
floor  of  planks,  with  plenty  of  shavings  spread  over  them. 
While  it  w^as  being  built  we  let  the  whole  pack  of  dogs  out 
upon  the  ice  ;  but  after  playing  for  half  an  hour  the  puppies, 
one  after  another,  began  to  have  convulsions.  The  attacks 
passed  quickly  over,  however.  We  drenched  them  with  soap 
and  water,  and  then  settled  them  in  their  new  abode. 

As  the  puppies  grew  older  we  had  to  keep  a  sharp  watch 
upon  them  when  we  let  them  out  upon  the  ice.  They  romped 
and  gambolled  with  such  ungovernable  glee  that  it  often  hap- 
pened that  one  or  other  of  them  plumped  into  the  water,  and 
had  to  be  laboriously  fished  out  again  by  the  Master  of  the 
Hounds  for  the  time  being  or  whoever  else  happened  to  be 
at  hand.  Moreover,  they  soon  acquired  a  taste  for  longer  ex- 
cursions, and  followed  our  tracks  far  over  the  ice. 

One  day  the  doctor  and  I  were  out  photographing.  At  a 
considerable  distance  from  the  ship  we  came  upon  a  large  pool 
of  fresh  water,  and  took  a  little  rest  upon  its  inviting,  mirror-like 
ice.  While  we  lay  there  chatting  at  our  ease,  we  saw  "  Kob- 
ben  "  coming  after  us.  As  soon  as  he  caught  sight  of  us,  he 
stopped  and  stood  wondering  what  strange  creatures  we  could 
be.  Then  we  began  to  creep  on  all-fours  towards  him  ;  and  the 
moment  we  did  so,  "  Kobben  "  found  his  legs  to  some  purpose. 
He  set  off  homeward  as  though  he  were  running  for  dear  life  ; 
and  even  when  we  got  back  to  the  ship  and  several  other  puppies 
met  us  and  knew  us,  the  poor  creature  was  still  so  panic-stricken 
that  it  was  a  good  while  before  he  ventured  to  come  near  us. 

On  September  28th  we  again  lost  one  of  the  puppies.  It 
was  seized  with  convulsions,  and  lay  whining  and  howling  all 
day.  As  the  evening  advanced,  and  it  became  paralyzed  along 
one  side,  there  was  no  hope  of  saving  it,  so  we  put  an  end  to  its 
misery.  It  was  pitiful  to  see  how  these  pretty  little  creatures 
suffered  when  the  convulsions  came  upon  them. 
II.— 42 


658  APPENDIX 

On  October  9th  "Skvint"  gave  birth  to  puppies,  but  as  so 
young  an  animal  could  not  have  brought  them  up,  especially 
in  such  a  cold  season,  we  allowed  her  to  keep  only  one  of  them 
as  an  experiment  ;  the  others  were  at  once  killed.  A  week 
later  "Sussi"  produced  a  second  litter,  two  he-dogs  and  nine 
she-dogs.  We  let  her  keep  the  two  males  and  one  of  the  females. 

It  proved  inadvisable  to  have  both  the  mothers  with  their 
families  in  the  same  kennel.  If  one  of  the  mothers  went  out 
for  a  moment,  the  other  at  once  took  all  the  puppies  into  her 
keeping,  and  then  there  was  a  battle  royal  when  the  first  one 
returned  and  wanted  to  reclaim  her  property.  Something  of 
this  sort  had,  no  doubt,  occurred  one  night  in  the  case  of 
"  Skvint,"  whom  Henriksen  found  in  the  morning  lying  at  the 
door  of  the  kennel  frozen  so  fast  to  the  ice  that  it  cost  us  a  good 
deal  of  trouble  to  get  her  loose  again.  She  must  have  had 
anything  but  a  pleasant  night — the  thermometer  had  been  down 
to  —33^  C.  (—27.4^  Fahr.) — and  her  tail  was  frozen  fast  to  one 
of  her  hind-legs,  so  that  we  had  to  take  her  down  into  the  sa- 
loon to  get  her  thawed.  To  obviate  such  misadventures  for 
the  future  I  had  a  detached  villa  built  for  her  where  she  could 
be  at  peace  with  her  child. 

One  evening,  when  Mogstad  was  housing  the  puppies  for 
the  night,  two  of  them  were  missing.  Henriksen  and  I  at 
once  set  off  with  lanterns  and  guns  to  hunt  for  them.  We 
thought  that  there  had  been  a  bear  in  the  neighborhood,  as 
we  had  heard  a  great  deal  of  barking  earlier  in  the  day  out 
upon  the  ice  to  the  east  of  the  ship ;  but  we  could  find  no 
tracks.  After  supper  we  set  out  again,  five  of  us,  all  carrying 
lanterns.  After  an  hour's  search  along  the  lanes  and  up  in  the 
pressure-ridges  we  at  last  found  the  puppies  on  the  other  side 
of  a  new  lane.  Although  the  new  ice  on  the  lane  was  strong 
enough  to  bear  them,  they  were  so  terrified  after  having  been 
in  the  water  that  they  dared  not  come  over  to  us,  and  we  had 
to  make  a  long  detour  to  get  hold  of  them. 

In  the  middle  of  December  we  took  the  youngest  puppies 
on  board,  as  they  had  now  grown  so  big,  and  ran  away  if  they 
were  not  very  closely  watched.     The  gangway  was  left  open  at 


00 


AUGUST  15    TO  JANUARY  i,  i8g6  661 

night  so  that  the  mothers  could  come  into  them  from  the  ice 
whenever  they  wanted  to. 

In  respect  to  temper,  there  was  a  great  difference  between 
the  generation  of  dogs  we  had  originally  taken  on  board  and 
those  we  now  had.  While  the  former  were  great  fighters,  per- 
petually at  feud  with  each  other,  and  often  to  the  death,  the  lat- 
ter were  exceedingly  quiet  and  well-behaved,  although  wild  and 
fierce  enough  when  it  came  to  chasing  a  bear.  Now  and  then 
there  would  be  a  little  squabble  among  them,  but  this  was  rare. 
"Axel"  was  the  worst  of  them..  Shortly  before  Christmas  he 
all  of  a  sudden  made  a  fierce  attack  upon  the  unoffending 
"  Kobben,"  against  whom  he  bore  a  grudge.  But  he  got  the 
rope's-end  for  supper  several  times,  and  that  improved  his  man- 
ners amazingly. 

During  the  first  half  of  September  the  weather  was  very  un- 
settled, with  prevailing  westerly  and  southwesterly  winds,  a  good 
deal  of  rain  and  snow,  especially  rain,  and  frequent  disturbance 
in  the  ice.  The  frost  at  night,  which  sometimes  reached  10°  or 
11°,  soon  made  the  new  ice  strong  enough  to  bear  a  man,  ex- 
cept just  at  the  stern  of  the  ship,  where  all  the  slops  were  thrown 
out.  Here  the  ice  was  much  broken  up,  and  formed  a  thick 
slush,  the  surface  of  which  was  frozen  over,  but  so  thinly  that  it 
would  not  bear  much  weight.  Thus  it  happened  one  day  that  three 
men  got  a  ducking,  one  after  another,  at  the  same  treacherous 
spot.  The  first  was  Pettersen.  He  had  to  go  round  the  stern 
to  look  to  the  log-line  which  hung  from  the  ship's  side  to  port; 
but  before  he  got  so  far,  down  he  went  through  the  ice.  Short- 
ly after  the  same  thing  happened  to  Nordahl,  and  half  an  hour 
later  it  was  Bentzen's  turn  to  plump  in.  He  plunged  right  up 
to  his  neck,  but  at  once  bobbed  up  again  like  a  cork,  and 
scrambled  gallantly  up  on  to  the  edge  of  the  ice  without  a  mo- 
ment's delay.  The  observation  of  the  log-line  had  to  be  post- 
poned, while  a  grand  changing  and  drying  of  clothes  took  place 
on  board. 

On  September  15th  the  ice  slackened  so  much  that  there  was 
quite  a  little  sea  between  us  and  the  great  hummock.  The  fol- 
lowing day  the  ice  was  still  so  much  disturbed  that  we  had  to 


662  APPENDIX 

think  seriously  of  fetching  back  the  things  which  still  lay  there. 
About  midday  I  took  a  walk  over  towards  the  hummock  to  find 
out  a  suitable  transport  path,  and  discovered  an  excellent  one. 
But  some  hours  later,  when  I  set  off  with  men  and  sledges  to 
fetch  back  the  things,  so  many  lanes  had  opened  around  the 
"  estate "  that  we  had  to  give  up  the  attempt  for  that  day. 
During  the  whole  of  September,  and  well  on  in  October,  there 
was  almost  incessant  disturbance  in  the  ice.  New  lanes  opened 
on  all  sides,  some  close  to  the  ship,  and  there  were  frequent  press- 
ures. The  winter  harbor  we  had  found  proved  an  excellent  one. 
There  was  very  little  disturbance  in  the  bay  where  the  Frain 
was  moored,  thanks  to  the  new  ice  we  here  had  around  us,  of 
which  the  pressure  was  quite  inconsiderable.  It  was  quickly 
broken  up,  and  the  fragments  forced  over  or  under  each  other, 
while  the  two  solid  points  of  the  bay  bore  the  brunt  of  the  at- 
tacks. Once  or  twice  it  seemed  as  though  the  Frain  would  be 
afloat  again  before  the  winter  finally  chained  her  in  its  icy  fetters. 
On  October  25th,  for  instance,  it  slackened  so  much  in  the  lane 
nearest  us  that  the  ship  lay  free  from  the  stern  right  to  the  fore- 
chains  ;  but  soon  the  ice  packed  together  again,  so  that  she  was 
once  more  frozen  quite  fast.  The  hardest  pressure  occurred  on 
October  26th  and  27th,  but  the  ship  was  not  very  severely  at- 
tacked. Pressure,  however,  is  more  unpleasant  in  winter,  on  ac- 
count of  the  deafening  noise  it  makes  when  the  ice  is  hurled 
against  the  ship's  side.  It  was  quite  different  in  summer,  when 
the  ice  is  more  tough  and  elastic,  and  the  pressure  goes  on  calmly 
and  quietly. 

After  November  ist  a  more  peaceful  period  set  in  ;  the  press- 
ures almost  entirely  ceased,  the  cold  increased,  the  wind  re- 
mained easterly,  and  we  drifted  at  a  steady  rate  northward  and 
westward  for  the  rest  of  the  year. 

During  the  autumn  the  drift  had  put  our  patience  to  a  severe 
test.  Owing  to  the  prevailing  westerly  winds  it  bore  steadily 
eastward,  and  day  after  day  we  looked  in  vain  for  a  change. 
The  only  thing  that  kept  our  spirits  up  was  the  knowledge  that, 
if  we  were  going  backward,  it  was  slowly,  sometimes  very  slowly, 
indeed.     Even  several  days  of  westerly  wind  did  not  take  us  so 


AUGUST  15    TO  JANUARY  i,  1896 


663 


far  to  the  east  but  that  a  day  or  two  of  favorable  wind  would 
enable  us  to  make  up  what  we  had  lost,  with  something  to 
boot. 

September  22d  was  the  second  anniversary  of  our  being 
frozen  in,  and  the  event  was  celebrated  with  a  little  festivity  in 
the  evening.  We  had  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  the  second 
year's  drift,  since  we  had  advanced  nearly  double  as  far  as  during 
the  first  year,  and,  if  this  continued,  there  could  scarcely  be  any 
doubt  that  we  should  get  clear  of  the  ice  in  the  autumn  of  1896. 

As  will  be  seen  from  the  following  table,  September  22d  also 
brought  us  a  marked  change  for  the  better.  On  that  day  the 
winter  drift  set  in  for  good,  and  lasted  without  intermission 
through  the  remainder  of  the  year,  so  that  between  that  day  and 
the  second  week  in  January  we  drifted  from  82°  5'  to  41°  a^V 
east  longitude. 


Date 

Latitude 

Longitude 

Direction  of 
Wind 

September  6th.  1895    .     . 

0 
84 

43 

0 
79 

52 

S.W. 

September  nth,  1895  .     . 

84 

59 

78 

15 

E. 

September  22d,  1895    .     . 

S5 

2 

82 

5 

Calm. 

October  9th.  1895    .     .     . 

85 

4 

79 

30 

E. 

October  19th,  1895  .     .     . 

85 

45 

78 

21 

E.  to  N. 

October  25th,  1895  .     .     . 

85 

46 

73 

25 

N.E. 

October  30th,  1895  .     .     . 

85 

46 

70 

50 

N.N.W. 

November  8th,  1895     .     . 

85 

41 

65 

2 

E. 

November  15th,  1895  .     . 

85 

55-5 

66 

31 

E.N.E. 

November  25th,  1895  .     . 

85 

47-5 

62 

56 

N.E.  to  N. 

December  ist,   1895      .     . 

85 

28 

58 

45 

E. 

December  7th,  1895     .     . 

85 

26 

54 

40 

N.E. 

December  14th,  1895   .     . 

85 

24 

50 

1 

Calm. 

December  21st,   1895    .     . 

85 

15 

47 

56 

N.E. 

December  28th,  1895   .     . 

85 

24 

48 

■->  *> 

N.W. 

January  9th,  1896    .     .     . 

84 

57 

41 

41 

N. 

On  October  nth  we  hauled  up  the  log-line  and  cut  a  new 
hole  for  it  in  the  ice  right  astern.  Hitherto  the  log  had  had  only 
100  metres  (54  fathoms)  of  line;  now  we  gave  it  300  metres  (162 
fathoms). 

After  the  middle  of  September  the  cold  steadily  increased,  as 
the  following  observations  will  show : 


664 


APPENDIX 


Date 


Minimum  Temperature 


September  iSth 
September  26th 
October  19th    . 
November  5th 
November  9th 
November  22d 
December  31st 


Centigrade 

Fahrenheit 

0 
-12.5 

+  °9.6 

-  24.0 

—  1 1.2 

—  30.0 

—  22.0 

-32.2 
-38.3 
—  43-6 
-44.6 

-25.8 

—  36.8 
-46.4 

—  48.2 

The  weather  was,  as  a  rule,  fine  during  the  last  three  months 
of  1895,  with  clear  air  and  light  breezes ;  only  now  and  then  (for 
example,  on  October  29th,  and  November  nth,  26th,  and  27th) 
the  wind  freshened  to  half  a  gale,  with  a  velocity  of  as  much  as 
48  feet  per  second. 

In  the  beginning  of  September  we  found  that  the  Frain  was 
drawing  more  and  more  water,  so  that  we  had  a  stiff  job  every 
day  to  pump  and  bale  her  empty.  But  from  the  23d  onward 
the  leakage  steadily  declined,  and  about  the  second  week  of 
October  the  engine-room  was  quite  water-tight.  It  still  leaked  a 
little,  however,  in  the  main  hold ;  but  soon  the  leak  ceased  here 
also,  the  water  having  frozen  in  the  ship's  side.  For  the  rest,  we 
employed  our  time  in  all  sorts  of  work  about  the  ship,  cutting  up 
and  removing  ice  in  the  hold,  cleaning,  putting  things  in  order, 
etc. 

Not  until  September  23d  did  the  state  of  the  ice  permit  us  to 
carry  out  our  intention  of  fetching  back  the  things  from  the 
great  hummock.  The  surface  was  that  day  excellent  for  sledges 
with  German -silver  runners;  wooden  runners,  on  the  other 
hand,  went  rather  heavily.  We  had  also  done  some  road-making 
here  and  there,  so  that  the  conveyance  of  the  goods  went  on 
easily  and  rapidly.  We  brought  back  to  the  ship,  in  all,  thirty- 
six  boxes  of  dog  biscuits,  and  four  barrels  of  petroleum.  Next 
day  we  brought  all  that  was  left,  and  stacked  it  on  the  ice  close 
to  the  ship. 

On  September  i6th  Scott-Hansen  and  Nordahl  set  about 
preparations  for  building  a  proper  house  for  their  magnetic  ob- 


I 


^  1 


AUGUST  15    TO  JANUARY  i,  i8g6  665 

servations.  Their  building  material  consisted  of  great  blocks  of 
new  ice,  which  they  piled  upon  sledges  and  drove  with  the  aid 
of  the  dogs  to  the  site  they  had  chosen.  Except  for  one  or  two 
trial  trips  which  Scott-Hansen  had  previously  made  with  the 
dogs,  this  was  the  first  time  they  had  been  employed  as  draught- 
animals.  They  drew  well,  and  the  carting  went  excellently.  The 
house  was  built  entirely  of  hewn  blocks  of  ice,  which  were 
ranged  above  each  other  with  an  inward  slant,  so  that  when 
finished  it  formed  a  compact  circular  dome  of  ice,  in  form  and 
appearance  not  unlike  a  Finn  tent.  A  covered  passage  of  ice 
led  into  the  house,  with  a  wooden  flap  for  a  door. 

When  this  observatory  was  finished,  Scott-Hansen  gave  a 
house-warming,  the  hut  being  magnificently  decorated  for  the 
occasion.  It  was  furnished  with  a  sofa,  and  with  arm-chairs 
covered  with  bear  and  reindeer  skins.  The  pedestal  in  the 
middle  of  the  floor,  on  which  the  magnetic  instruments  were  to 
be  established,  was  covered  with  a  flag,  and  an  ice-floe  served  as 
a  table.  On  the  table  stood  a  lamp  with  a  red  shade,  and  along 
the  walls  were  fixed  a  number  of  red  paper  lanterns.  The  effect 
was  quite  festal,  and  we  all  sat  round  the  room  in  the  highest  of 
spirits.  Our  amiable  host  addressed  little  humorous  speeches 
to  every  one.  Pettersen  expressed  the  wish  that  this  might  be 
the  last  ice-hut  Scott-Hansen  should  build  on  this  trip,  and  that 
we  might  all  be  home  again  this  time  next  autumn,  and  "  none 
the  worse  for  it  all."  Pettersen's  artless  little  address  was  re- 
ceived with  frantic  enthusiasm. 

For  the  rest,  Pettersen  had  just  about  this  time  entered 
upon  a  new  offiice,  having  from  September  loth  onward  under- 
taken the  whole  charge  of  Juell's  former  domain,  the  galley,  a 
department  to  which  he  gave  his  whole  heart,  and  in  which  his 
performances  denoted  entire  satisfaction  to  every  one.  The 
only  branch  of  the  culinary  art  with  which  he  would  have 
nothing  to  do  was  the  baking  of  Christmas  cakes.  This  Juell 
himself  had  to  attend  to  when  the  time  came. 

When  winter  set  in  we  built  ourselves  a  new  smithy  in  the 
place  of  the  one  which  drifted  off  on  July  27th.  It  was  con- 
structed on  the  pressure-ridge  where  the  boats  and  part  of  the 


666  APPENDIX 

stores  from  the  great  hummock  had  been  placed.  Its  plan  was 
very  much  like  that  of  the  former  smithy.  We  first  hollowed 
out  a  cavity  of  sufficient  size  in  the  pressure-ridge,  and  then 
roofed  it  over  with  blocks  of  ice  and  snow. 

As  the  year  waned,  and  the  winter  night  impended,  all  the 
sea  animals  and  birds  of  passage  which  had  swarmed  around  us 
and  awakened  our  longings  during  the  short  summer  deserted 
us  one  by  one.  They  set  off  for  the  south,  towards  sunshine  and 
light  and  hospitable  shores,  while  we  lay  there  in  the  ice  and 
darkness  for  yet  another  winter.  On  September  6th  we  saw  the 
last  narwhals  gambolling  in  the  lanes  around  the  ship,  and  a 
few  days  later  the  last  flock  of  skuas  {Lestris  parasiticus)  took 
their  departure.  The  sun  moves  quickly  in  these  latitudes  from 
the  first  day  that  he  peers  over  the  horizon  in  the  south  till  he 
circles  round  the  heavens  all  day  and  all  night ;  but  still  quicker 
do  his  movements  seem  when  he  is  on  the  downward  path  in  au- 
tumn. Before  you  know  where  you  are  he  has  disappeared,  and 
the  crushing  darkness  of  the  Arctic  night  surrounds  you  once  more. 

On  September  I2th  we  should  have  seen  the  midnight  sun 
for  the  last  time  if  it  had  been  clear ;  and  no  later  than  October 
8th  we  caught  the  last  glimpse  of  the  sun's  rim  at  midday. 
Thus  we  plunged  into  the  longest  Arctic  night  any  human 
beings  have  yet  lived  through,  in  about  85°  north  latitude. 
Henceforth  there  was  nothing  that  could  for  a  moment  be 
called  daylight,  and  by  October  26th  there  was  scarcely  any 
perceptible  difference  between  day  and  night. 

Whenever  time  permitted  and  the  surface  was  at  all  favorable 
we  wandered  about  on  snow-shoes  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
ship,  either  singly  or  several  together.  On  October  7th,  when 
all  of  us  were  out  snow-shoeing  in  the  morning,  the  mate  found 
a  log  of  drift-wood  7  feet  long  and  7  inches  thick.  Part  of  the 
root  was  still  attached  to  the  trunk.  The  mate  and  I  went  out 
in  the  afternoon  and  brought  it  in  on  a  hand-sledge.  No  doubt 
it  had  grown  in  one  of  the  Siberian  forests,  had  been  swept  away 
by  a  flood  or  by  the  current  of  a  river,  and  carried  out  to  sea  to 
be  conveyed  hither  by  the  drift-ice. 

Besides  snow-shoeing,  we  also  took  frequent  walks  on  the  ice, 


AUGUST  15    TO  JANUARY  i,  1896  667 

and  on  November  20th  I  gave  orders  that  every  man  should  take 
two  hours'  exercise  a  day  in  the  fresh  air.  I  myself  was  very 
fond  of  these  walks,  which  freshened  up  both  soul  and  body, 
and  I  often  wandered  backward  and  forward  on  the  ice  four  or 
five  hours  a  day — as  a  rule,  two  hours  in  the  morning  and  two  in 
the  afternoon. 

On  October  8th  Scott-Hansen  and  Mogstad  made  an  experi- 
ment in  dragging  sledges  with  230  pounds  of  freight.  They 
started  at  half-past  nine  and  returned  at  five  in  the  afternoon, 
after  having  been  about  four  miles  from  the  ship,  and  traversed 
pretty  heavy  country. 

We  did  not  believe,  indeed,  that  the  Fravi  ran  the  slightest 
risk  of  being  crushed  in  any  ice-pressure  ;  but  it  was  obviously 
possible,  or  at  least  conceivable,  so  that  it  was  our  duty  to  be  pre- 
pared for  all  contingencies.  Accordingly  we  devoted  much  labor 
and  care  to  securing  ourselves  against  being  taken  by  surprise. 

At  the  end  of  October  we  established  a  new  depot  on  the  ice 
consisting  of  provisions  for  six  months,  with  a  full  equipment  of 
sledges,  kayaks,  snow-shoes,  etc.  The  provisions  were  divided 
into  five  different  piles,  and  stacked  so  that  the  boxes  in  each 
pile  formed  an  arch.  Thus  stored,  not  more  than  two  cases 
could  well  be  lost  even  if  the  worst  happened,  and  the  ice  split 
up  right  under  the  heap.  The  provisions  consisted  partly  of 
pemmican,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  list  quoted — a  very  nutritious 
article  of  diet,  which  makes  an  excellent  sort  of  Irish  stew  (lob- 
scouse).  With  200  grammes  of  pemmican,  100  grammes  of  bread, 
and  120  grammes  of  potatoes  you  can  make  a  very  satisfying  and 
palatable  dish. 

On  November  28th  we  passed  the  sixtieth  degree  of  longi- 
tude, and  celebrated  the  occasion  by  a  little  feast.  The  saloon 
was  decorated  with  flags,  and  a  rather  more  sumptuous  dinner 
than  usual  was  served,  with  coffee  after  it,  while  supper  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  dessert  of  fruits  and  preserves.  This  meridian  passes 
near  Cape  Fligely  in  Franz  Josef  Land,  and  through  Khabarova, 
where  we  two  years  ago  had  bidden  farewell  to  the  last  faint 
traces  of  civilization.  So  it  seemed  as  though  we  really  felt  our- 
selves nearer  the  world  and  life. 


CHAPTER  IV 
January  i  to  May  17,  1896 

New-year's-day  came  with  fine,  clear  weather,  moonlight, 
and  about  43  degrees  of  cold.  The  ice  kept  remarkably  quiet 
for  about  a  month,  but  on  February  4th  the  pressure  com- 
menced again.  It  was  not  of  long  duration,  but  made  a  great 
noise  while  it  lasted;  the  ice  all  round  us  roared  and  screamed 
as  if  a  tremendous  gale  were  blowing.  I  took  a  walk  on  the 
ice  for  the  purpose,  if  possible,  of  observing  the  pressure  more 
closely,  but  could  see  nothing.  The  following  day  we  again 
sallied  forth  on  the  ice,  and  found  a  comparatively  new  channel 
and  a  large  new  pressure-ridge  about  a  mile  from  the  ship.  It 
was  impossible,  however,  to  get  any  comprehensive  view  of  the 
state  of  the  ice,  as  it  was  still  too  dark,  even  at  midday.  The 
surface  of  the  snow  was  hard  and  good,  but  the  hollow  edges  of 
the  snow-drifts  were  so  deceptive  that  we  every  now  and  then 
tumbled  head  over  heels. 

On  February  7th  Scott-Hansen,  Henriksen,  Amundsen,  and 
myself  took  a  run  northward  from  the  ship.  The  farther  north 
we  went  the  more  broken  and  uneven  the  ice  became,  and  at 
last  we  had  to  turn,  as  we  came  to  a  new  and  wide  lane.  Dur- 
ing the  morning  a  dark  bank  of  clouds  had  been  gathering  in 
the  southwest,  and  now  the  fog  got  so  thick  that  it  was  not  easy 
to  find  our  way  back  to  the  ship  again.  At  last  we  heard  the 
voice  of  "Sussi,"  and  from  the  top  of  a  pressure-ridge  which  we 
ascended  we  got  sight  of  the  crow's-nest  and  the  main-topmast 
of  the  Fram,  towering  above  the  fog,  only  a  little  way  off.  Close 
as  we  were  to  the  ship,  it  was  not  so  easy  to  get  on  board  again. 
We  were  stopped  by  a  large  lane  which  had  formed  just  abaft 


JANUARY  I    TO  MAY  17,  i8g6  669 

the  ship  during  our  absence,  and  we  had  to  skirt  it  a  long  way 
westward  before  we  could  cross  it.  Those  on  board  told  us 
that  the  opening  of  the  lane  had  given  the  ship  a  great  shock, 
very  much  like  the  shock  felt  when  we  blasted  the  Frani  loose 
in  August.  At  12.30  at  night  we  felt  another  shock  in  the  ice. 
When  we  came  on  deck  we  found  that  the  ice  had  cracked 
about  30  yards  abaft  the  ship,  parallel  with  the  large  lane.  The 
crack  passed  along  the  side  of  the  nearest  long-boat,  and  right 
through  one  of  the  coal-heaps.  On  the  heap  a  barrel  was  stand- 
ing, which  would  have  been  lost  if  the  crack  had  not  divided 
itself  in  front  of  it  at  about  right  angles  and  then  joined  again, 
after  passing  through  the  outer  edges  of  the  heap.  On  the 
island  thus  formed  the  barrel  and  some  coal-bags  floated  about 
in  the  channel.  However,  we  soon  got  the  island  hooked  to 
shore,  and  the  coals  were  all  saved,  with  the  exception  of  a  sack 
of  one  hundredweight,  which  went  to  the  bottom.  By  way  of 
making  sure,  I  gave  orders  that  the  depot  should  be  inspected 
once  during  each  watch,  or  oftener  if  the  pressure  began  again. 

On  February  13th  Henriksen,  Amundsen,  and  I  made  an  ex- 
pedition southward  to  examine  into  the  state  of  the  ice  in  that 
direction.  We  found  that  it  was  very  uneven  there,  too,  and  full 
of  comparatively  new  lanes.  The  channel  abaft  the  ship  widened 
during  the  forenoon,  and  gave  off  such  masses  of  fog  that  we 
soon  lost  sight  of  the  ship.  The  next  day  it  opened  still  more, 
and  on  the  i6th  there  was  a  very  strong  pressure  in  it.  The 
ice  trembled  and  roared  like  a  great  waterfall,  and  splintered  into 
small  horizontal  flakes  on  the  surface.  The  pressure  was  repeated 
almost  every  day,  and  more  cracks  and  lanes  were  constantly  to 
be  seen  for  some  time.  But  after  that  the  ice  was  compara- 
tively quiet  until  April  loth,  when  it  again  began  to  be  very  rest- 
less. On  the  night  of  the  15th  the  pressure  was  very  strong  in 
the  lane  on  the  port  side.  We  were  obliged  to  haul  up  the 
log-line  with  the  bag  and  shift  the  sounding  apparatus.  The 
same  night  the  ice  split  under  two  of  the  provision  depots, 
so  that  we  had  to  get  them  closer  to  the  ship. 

On  the  morning  of  the  21st  we  were  awakened  by  a  violent 
pressure  astern.     Nordahl  came  down  and  woke  me,  saying  that 


670  APPENDIX 

the  ice  threatened  to  rush  in  over  the  vessel.  We  found  that 
a  tremendous  ice-floe  had  been  pressed  up  over  the  edge  of 
the  ice  astern,  and  came  gliding  along  unchecked  until  it  ran 
right  against  our  stern.  But  the  Fram  had  borne  shocks  like 
this  before,  and  now  again  she  held  her  own  well.  The  ice  was 
split  against  the  strong  stern,  and  lay  shattered  on  both  sides 
of  the  ship  on  a  level  with  the  edge  of  the  half-deck  all  the 
way  forward  to  the  mizzen-shrouds.  The  ship  now  lay  almost 
loose  in  her  berth,  and  the  ice  round  about  was  broken  up  into 
a  mass  of  smaller  floes.  As  these  were  passed  down  by  the 
heavy  drifts,  it  was  hard  work  to  get  round  the  ship,  as  one  ran 
the  risk  of  plumping  down  into  the  slush  at  any  moment. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  of  May  13th  the  lane  between  the 
forge  and  the  ship  began  to  widen  very  much,  so  that  in  a 
couple  of  hours'  time  it  was  about  90  yards  wide.  From  the 
crow's-nest  I  saw  on  the  southeast  a  large  channel  extending 
southward  as  far  as  I  could  see,  and  the  channel  abaft  us  ex- 
tended to  the  northeast  as  far  as  my  sight  could  reach.  I 
therefore  went  out  in  the  "  pram  "  to  try  to  find  a  passage 
through  to  the  channel  on  the  southeast,  but  without  result. 
After  supper  I  was  off  again  southward,  but  I  could  not  find 
any  thoroughfare.  At  10  o'clock  in  the  evening  I  again  went  up 
in  the  crow's-nest,  and  now  saw  that  the  channel  had  widened 
considerably  and  reached  away  southward  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
reach,  with  dark  air  over  it. 

Scott-Hansen  and  I  deliberated  as  to  what  was  to  be  done. 
Although  I  did  not  believe  it  would  do  much  good  under  the 
circumstances,  we  decided  upon  an  attempt  to  blast  the  vessel 
free.  We  agreed  to  try  some  mines  right  aft,  and  all  hands  were 
at  once  put  to  this  work.  First  we  fired  six  powder-mines  at 
about  the  same  spot,  but  without  much  result.  Then  we  made 
an  unsuccessful  trial  with  gun-cotton.  At  3  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing we  concluded  operations  for  the  time  being,  as  the  ice  was 
so  thick  that  the  drill  did  not  reach  through,  and  the  slush  so 
bad  that  it  was  impossible  to  get  the  ice-floes  shoved  away.  At 
8  o'clock  the  next  morning  we  laid  two  new  mines,  which  Scott- 
Hansen  and   Nordahl  had  made   ready  during  the  night,  but 


JANUARY  I    TO  MAY  /./,  i8g6  671 

neither  of  them  would  go  off.  One  or  two  of  the  mines  which 
we  had  fired  during  the  day  had  produced  some  effect,  but  so 
httle  that  it  was  not  worth  while  to  continue.  We  were  obliged 
to  wait  for  a  more  favorable  condition  of  the  ice. 

The  weather  during  the  two  first  weeks  of  January  was  settled 
and  good,  with  clear  air  and  40  to  50  degrees  of  cold.  The  cold- 
est day  was  January  15th,  when  the  thermometer  showed  from 
-50°  C.  (-58°  Fahr.)  to  -52°  C.  (-61.6°  Fahr.).  The  last  two 
weeks  of  January  the  temperature  was  considerably  higher,  but 
dropped  again  in  February,  until  on  the  13th  it  was  about  —48° 
C.  (—54.4°  Fahr.),  after  which  it  was  somewhat  higher:  about 
—  35°  C.  (—41°  Fahr.)  during  the  remainder  of  February.  On 
March  5th  the  thermometer  again  .showed  40  degrees  of  cold  ; 
but  from  that  time  the  temperature  rose  quickly.  Thus  on 
March  12th  it  was  —12°,  on  the  27th  —6°,  with  a  few  colder 
days  of  course  now  and  then.  April  was  somewhat  cold  through- 
out, about  —25°;  the  coldest  day  was  the  13th,  with  —34°.  The 
first  week  of  May  was  also  somewhat  cold,  about  —20°  to  —25°, 
the  second  week  somewhat  milder,  about  —14°,  and  on  May  21st 
we  had  the  first  rise  above  freezing-point  of  this  year,  the  maxi- 
mum thermometer  showing  at  the  evening  observation  +0.9°. 

Some  days  during  this  winter  were  remarkable  for  very  great 
and  sudden  changes  in  temperature.  One  instance  was  Friday, 
February  21st.  In  the  morning  it  was  cloudy,  with  a  stiff  breeze 
from  the  southeast.  Late  in  the  afternoon  the  wind  suddenly 
changed  to  the  southwest,  and  slackened  off  to  a  velocity  of  14 
feet ;  and  the  temperature  went  down  from  —  7°  in  the  morning 
to  —25°  shortly  before  the  change  in  the  wind,  rapidly  rising 
again  to  —6.2°  at  8  o'clock  P.M. 

In  my  Journal  I  wrote  of  this  day  as  follows :  "  I  was  walk- 
ing on  deck  to-night,  and  before  I  went  down  had  a  lookout 
astern.  When  I  put  my  head  out  of  the  tent  I  felt  so  warm  a 
current  of  air  that  my  first  thought  was  that  there  must  be  fire 
somewhere  on  board.  I  soon  made  out,  however,  that  it  was 
the  temperature  which  had  risen  so  greatly  since  I  was  under 
the  open  sky.  Scott-Hansen  and  I  afterwards  went  up  and 
placed  a  thermometer  under  the  ship's  tent,  where  it   showed 


672  .       APPENDIX 

—  19°,  while  the  thermometer  outside  showed  only  —6°.  We 
walked  for  some  time  backward  and  forward,  and  breathed 
the  warm  air  in  deep  draughts.  It  was  beyond  all  description 
pleasant  to  feel  the  mild  wind  caress  one's  cheek.  Yes,  there  is 
a  great  difference  between  living  in  such  a  temperature  and 
daily  breathing  an  air  40°  to  50°  below  freezing-point.  Person- 
ally, I  am  not  very  much  incommoded  by  it,  but  many  com- 
plain that  they  feel  a  pain  deep  in  the  chest.  I  only  find  when 
I  have  been  taking  a  good  deal  of  exercise  that  my  mouth  is 
parched.  " 

The  following  day,  February  22d,  it  first  blew  from  the 
S.S.E.,  but  later  the  wind  changed  to  half  a  gale  from  the 
west,  with  a  velocity  of  55  feet  per  second.  The  barometer 
showed  the  lowest  reading  during  the  whole  voyage  up  till 
then — namely,  723.6  mm.  The  air  was  so  full  of  drifting  snow 
that  we  could  not  see  6  feet  from  the  ship,  and  the  thermom- 
eter-house out  on  the  ice  was  in  a  few  minutes  so  packed  with 
drift-snow  that  it  was  impossible  to  read  ofT  the  instruments. 
It  was  not  very  comfortable  down  in  the  saloon,  as  it  was 
impossible  to  create  any  draught.  We  made  unsuccessful 
attempts  to  light  the  stoves,  but  soon  had  to  take  the  fire 
away,  to  prevent  suffocation  by  smoke.  Sunday  night  the 
storm  abated,  but  on  Monday  and  Tuesday  there  was  again 
half  a  gale,  with  snowfall  and  drift,  and  nearly  28  degrees 
of  frost.  Not  before  Wednesday  afternoon  did  the  weather 
improve  in  earnest ;  it  then  cleared  up,  and  the  wind  slackened 
to  20  feet,  so  both  we  and  the  dogs  could  get  out  on  the  ice 
and  take  a  little  exercise.  The  dogs  wanted  to  get  out  of  their 
kennels  in  the  morning,  but  even  they  found  the  weather  too 
bad,  and  slunk  in  again. 

We  had  a  good  many  rough-weather  days  like  this,  not  only 
in  the  winter,  but  also  in  the  summer ;  but  as  a  rule  the  rough 
weather  lasted  only  a  day  at  a  time,  and  did  not  involve  any 
great  discomfort.  On  the  contrary,  we  had  no  objection  to  a 
little  rough  weather,  especially  when  it  was  accompanied  by  a 
fresh  breeze  that  might  drift  the  ice  speedily  westward.  Of 
course,  what  most  interested  us  was  the  drifting  and  everything 


txi 


/ 


^IJ^' 


CO 


JANUARY  I    TO   MAY  17,  1S96  675 

connected  with  it.  Our  spirits  were  often  far  better  in  rough 
weather  than  on  glittering  days  of  clear  weather,  with  only  a 
slight  breeze  or  a  calm  and  a  brilliant  aurora  borealis  at  night. 

With  the  drift  we  had  reason  to  be  well  satisfied,  especially 
in  January  and  the  first  week  in  February.  During  that  time 
we  drifted  all  the  way  from  the  48th  to  the  25th  degree  of 
longitude,  while  our  latitude  kept  steady — about  84°  50'.  The 
best  drift  we  had  was  from  January  28th  to  February  3d,  when 
there  was  a  constant  stiff  breeze  blowing  from  the  east,  which 
on  Sunday,  February  2d,  increased  to  a  speed  of  58  feet  6 
inches  to  69  feet  a  second,  or  even  more  during  squalls.  This 
was,  however,  the  only  real  gale  during  the  whole  of  our  voyage. 
On  Saturday,  February  ist,  we  passed  the  longitude  of  Vardo, 
and  celebrated  the  occasion  by  some  festivities  in  the  evening. 
On  February  15th  we  were  in  84°  20'  north  latitude  and  23° 
28'  east  longitude,  and  we  now  drifted  some  distance  back,  so 
that  on  February  29th  we  were  in  27°  east  longitude.  After- 
wards the  drift  westward  was  very  slow,  but  it  was  better  tow- 
ards the  south,  so  that  on  May  i6th  we  were  at  83°  45'  north 
latitude  and  12°  50'  east  longitude. 

The  drift  gave  occasion  to  many  bets,  especially  when  it  was 
good,  and  spirits  proportionately  high.  One  day  at  the  end  of 
January,  when  the  line  showed  that  we  were  drifting  briskly  in 
the  right  direction,  Henriksen  found  his  voice  and  said  :  "  We 
have  never  made  a  bet  before,  captain  ;  suppose  we  make  a  bet 
now  as  to  how  far  south  we  have  got."  "  All  right,"  I  said,  and 
we  accordingly  made  a  bet  of  a  ration  of  salmon,  I  that  we  were 
not  south  of  84°  40',  or  between  40'  and  41',  and  he  said  we 
were  between  36'  and  37'.  Scott-Hansen  then  took  an  observa- 
tion, and  found  that  Henriksen  had  lost.  The  latitude  was  84° 
40.2'. 

Since  the  last  bird  of  passage  left  us  we  had  nowhere  seen  a 
single  living  creature,  right  up  to  February  28th.  Not  even  a 
bear  had  been  seen  during  our  many  rambles  on  the  ice. 

At  6  A.M.  Pettersen  came  rushing  into  the  cabin,  and  told  me 
that  he  saw  two  bears  near  the  ship.  I  hurried  up  on  deck,  but 
it  was  still  so  dark  that  I  could  not  at  once  get  sight  of  them. 


6/6  APPENDIX 

although  Pettei'sen  was  pointing  in  their  direction.  At  last  I 
saw  them  trotting  along  slowly  towards  the  ship.  About  150 
yards  away  they  stopped.  I  tried  to  take  aim  at  them,  but  as  it 
was  still  too  dark  to  be  sure  of  my  shot,  I  waited  a  little,  hop- 
ing that  they  would  come  nearer.  They  stood  for  a  time  staring 
at  the  ship,  but  then  wheeled  round  and  sneaked  off  again.  I 
asked  Pettersen  if  he  had  something  to  fry  which  would  smell 
really  nice  and  strong  and  attract  the  bears  back.  He  stood 
ruminating  a  little,  then  ran  down-stairs,  and  came  up  again 
with  a  pan  of  fried  butter  and  onions.  "  I  am  blowed  if  I  haven't 
got  something  savory  for  them,"  he  said,  and  tossed  the  pan 
up  on  the  rail.  The  bears  had  long  been  out  of  sight.  It  was 
cold,  35  degrees  I  should  think,  and  I  hurried  down  to  get  my 
fur  coat  on,  but  before  I  had  done  so  Bentzen  came  running 
down  and  told  me  to  make  haste,  as  the  bears  were  coming 
back.  We  tore  on  deck  at  full  speed,  and  now  had  the  animals 
well  within  range,  about  100  yards  away.  I  squatted  down  be- 
hind the  rail,  took  a  good  aim,  and  —  missed  fire.  The  bears 
were  a  little  startled,  and  seemed  to  be  contemplating  a  retreat. 
I  quickly  cocked  the  rifle  again  and  fired  at  the  largest  one. 
It  fell  head  over  heels,  with  a  tremendous  roar.  Then  I  fired 
at  the  second  one.  It  first  turned  a  fine  somersault  before  it  fell. 
After  that  they  both  got  up  and  took  a  few  steps  forward,  but 
then  they  both  came  down  again.  I  gave  them  each  one  of  the 
two  cartridges  I  had  left,  but  still  this  was  not  enough  for  these 
long-lived  animals.  Pettersen  was  very  much  interested  in  the 
sport.  Without  any  weapon  he  ran  down  the  gangway  and 
away  towards  the  bears,  but  then  he  suddenly  had  misgivings 
and  called  to  Bentzen  to  follow  him.  Bentzen,  who  had  no 
weapons  either,  was  naturally  not  very  keen  about  running 
after  two  wounded  bears.  After  getting  some  more  cartridges 
I  met  Pettersen  midway  between  the  bears  and  the  Frani.  The 
animals  were  now  crawling  along  a  pressure-ridge.  I  stopped 
at  a  distance  of  30  yards,  but  first  of  all  I  had  to  shout  to  Pet- 
tersen, who,  in  his  eagerness,  hurried  on  before  me,  and  now 
stood  just  in  the  line  of  fire.  At  last  the  great  she-bear  got 
her  death-wound,  and   I  ran  along   the   pressure-ridge  in  order 


JANUARY  I    TO   MAY  ir,  1806  677 


to  see  where  the  other  one  had  got  to.  Suddenly  it  stuck  its 
head  up  over  the  ridge,  and  I  at  once  sent  a  shot  through  its 
neck  close  up  to  the  head. 

All  hands  were  then  called  out,  and  great  was  the  rejoicing. 
Our  mouths  watered  at  the  thought  of  the  delicious  fresh  meat 
we  should  now  enjoy  for  a  long  time.  It  was  about  16  months 
since  we  had  last  shot  a  bear,  and  for  14  months  we  had  not  had 
any  fresh  meat,  except  one  or  two  dishes  of  seals  and  birds  shot 
during  the  summer.  We  blessed  Pettersen's  savory  frying-pan. 
The  bears  were  cut  up  and  made  into  steaks,  rissoles,  roasts,  etc. 
Even  the  bones  we  laid  aside  to  make  soup  of.  The  ribs  were 
the  most  succulent.  We  had  them  for  dinner,  and  everybody 
voted  that  a  sirloin  of  bear  was  a  dish  for  a  king.  Accordingly 
we  all  ate  very  large  helpings,  with  heartfelt  wishes  that  it  might 
not  be  long  before  some  bears  again  paid  us  a  visit. 

After  this  Pettersen  became  so  infatuated  with  bear-hunting 
that  he  talked  of  it  early  and  late.  One  day  he  got  it  into  his 
head  that  some  bears  would  come  during  the  night.  He  had 
such  a  belief  in  his  forebodings  that  he  made  all  possible  prep- 
arations for  the  night  and  got  Bentzen  to  join  forces  with  him. 
Bentzen  had  the  morning  watch,  and  was  to  call  him  as  soon  as 
the  bears  appeared.  A  merry  fellow,  who  v/anted  to  make  sure 
of  seeing  Pettersen  bear-hunting,  had  taken  the  precaution  to 
hang  a  little  bell  on  Bentzen's  rifle,  so  that  he  could  hear  when 
they  started.  Unfortunately  no  bear  appeared.  Pettersen,  how- 
ever, had  so  set  his  heart  on  shooting  a  bear,  that  I  had  to  prom- 
ise to  let  him  have  a  shot  some  time  when  I  myself  was  by  and 
had  a  charge  ready,  in  case  the  inconceivable  should  happen,  and 
Pettersen  should  miss — a  mishap  which  he  would  find  it  very 
hard  to  get  over. 

On  Sunday,  March  8th,  we  had  another  instance  of  a  sudden 
change  in  temperature  like  that  of  February  21st.  In  the  morn- 
ing it  was  cloudy,  with  a  fresh  breeze  from  the  E.N.E.,  but  at  3 
P.M.  the  wind  fell,  and  at  6  o'clock  changed  to  a  light  S.S.E. 
breeze.  At  the  same  time  the  temperature  rose  from  —26°  to 
—  8°,  and  it  was  very  pleasant  to  saunter  round  on  the  half-deck 
in  the  evening  and  breathe  the  mild  air. 


678  APPENDIX 

On  March  4th  we  saw  the  sun  for  the  first  time.  It  should 
have  been  visible  the  day  before,  but  then  it  was  too  cloudy.  By 
way  of  compensation  it  was  now  a  double  festival  day,  as  we 
could  celebrate  both  the  return  of  the  sun  and  Nordahl's  birth- 
day in  one. 

On  March  14th  it  was  one  year  since  Nansen  and  Johansen 
commenced  their  long  ice-journey.  The  day  was  celebrated  by 
a  better  dinner,  with  coffee  afterwards  and  a  punch-bowl  in  the 
evening. 

Besides  the  usual  scientific  observations,  which  were  con- 
tinued without  any  interruptions  worth  mentioning,  we  also 
took  soundings  during  the  winter,  but  did  not  reach  bottom 
with  a  3000-metre  line  (1625  fathoms). 

On  April  13th  Scott-Hansen  and  I  took  an  observation  with 
the  theodolite,  and  Nordahl  an  observation  with  the  sextant, 
on  the  natural  horizon.  According  to  the  theodolite,  the 
latitude  was  84°  11.5',  and  by  the  sextant  84°  13'.  We  had 
previously  ascertained  that  there  was  a  difference  of  about  two 
minutes  between  the  artificial  and  natural  horizons.  In  using 
the  natural  horizon  a  smaller  latitude  is  obtained,  even  though 
there  is  no  mirage.  The  deviation  will,  however,  under  favor- 
able circumstances,  seldom  exceed  two  minutes.  But  if  there 
is  much  mirage,  it  becomes  almost  impossible  to  obtain  a  fairly 
correct  result.  As  a  rule,  therefore,  in  taking  observations  in 
the  drift-ice,  one  has  to  use  the  artificial  horizon  or  theodolite, 
if  a  very  exact  result  is  desired. 

As  the  time  passed  on  towards  spring  the  days  became 
longer,  and  more  rifts  and  channels  were  formed  round  the 
ship.  It  was  time  to  think  of  beginning  preparations  for  forc- 
ing the  Frani  ahead  as  soon  as  sufficiently  large  openings 
should  appear  in  the  ice.  The  things  stored  on  the  ice  had 
been  frequently  shifted  about  in  the  course  of  the  winter,  but 
as  the  ice  became  more  broken  up,  it  was  of  little  use  to  shift 
them.  So  in  the  middle  of  April  we  took  the  winter  depot  on 
board  and  stowed  it  away  in  the  main  hold.  We  also  took  on 
board  the  sacks  from  the  coal  depot,  while  the  barrels  and 
hogsheads,  together  with  the  dog-biscuits,  kayaks,  and  sledges, 


JANUARY  I    TO   MAY  /~,  i8g6  68 1 

were  for  the  present  left  upon  the  ice.  The  sun  at  this  time 
became  so  strong  that  on  April  19th  the  snow  began  to  melt 
away  on  the  tent :  along  the  ship's  side  it  had  been  melting  for 
several  days. 

The  first  harbinger  of  spring  we  saw  this  year  was  a  snow- 
bunting,  which  made  its  appearance  on  the  evening  of  April 
25th.  It  took  up  permanent  quarters  in  one  of  the  sealing- 
boats,  where  it  was  treated  with  groats  and  scraps  of  food,  and 
soon  got  very  tame.  It  favored  us  with  its  presence  for  several 
days,  and  then  flew  away.  The  Fraiii  had  evidently  been  a 
welcome  resting-place  for  it;  it  had  eaten  its  fill,  and  gathered 
new  strength  for  the  remainder  of  its  journey.  On  May  3d  we 
were  again  visited  by  a  snow-bunting,  and  a  couple  of  days  later 
by  two  more.  I  fancy  it  was  our  former  guest,  who  in  the 
meantime  had  found  its  mate,  and  now  returned  with  her  to 
call  and  thank  us  for  our  hospitality.  They  remained  with  us 
about  an  hour,  and  did  their  best  to  cheer  us  with  their  chirping 
and  twittering;  but  as  the  dogs  would  not  give  them  any  peace, 
but  chased  them  everywhere,  they  finally  took  flight,  and  did 
not  return  again. 

After  the  first  few  days  in  May  we  removed  the  temporary 
deck,  which  had  been  laid  over  the  davits,  cleared  the  main- 
deck,  and  took  both  the  sealing-boats  and  the  long-boats  on 
board.  The  gangway  was  also  removed,  and  a  ladder  put  in  its 
place.  Next  we  shipped  the  rest  of  the  coal  depot,  the  dog 
provisions,  and  the  sledges;  in  fact,  we  took  in  everything  that 
was  left  on  the  ice.  All  that  was  now  left  to  be  done  was  to 
get  the  engine  ready  for  getting  up  steam,  and  this  we  set 
about  on  May  i8th. 

The  dogs  got  on  well  in  their  kennels  on  the  ice,  in  spite  of 
the  prolonged  and  strong  cold,  and  we  had  very  little  trouble 
with  them.  But  after  the  first  month  in  the  new  year  some  of 
the  bigger  dogs  became  so  fierce  towards  the  smaller  ones  that 
we  had  to  take  two  of  the  worst  tyrants  on  board  and  keep 
them  locked  up  for  a  time.  They  also  did  a  good  deal  of  mis- 
chief whenever  they  had  an  opportunity.  One  day,  for  instance, 
they  began  to  gnaw  at  the  kayaks  that  were  placed  on  the  top 


682 


APPENDIX 


of  the  largest  dog-kennel.  However,  we  got  hold  of  them  in 
time  before  any  serious  damage  was  done,  and  cleared  away  the 
snow  round  the  kennel,  so  that  they  could  not  climb  up  again  to 
go  on  with  this  amusement. 

On  February  loth  one  of  "  Sussi's  "  puppies  littered.  We 
took  her  on  board,  and  laid  her  in  a  large  box  filled  with  shav- 
ings. We  allowed  her  to  keep  only  one  of  her  five  pups;  we 
killed  two  at  once,  one  was  born  dead,  and  she  had  devoured 
her  first-born,  the  cannibal  ! 

Some  days  later  "Kara"  had  a  litter.  She  was  the  only  one 
of  the  dogs  who  manifested  any  maternal  instinct.  It  was  quite 
touching  to  see  her,  and  we  felt  sorry  to  have  to  take  the  pups 
away  from  her;  but  we  were  forced  to  make  away  with  them, 
not  only  because  it  was  impossible  to  bring  them  up  at  that 
time  of  the  year,  but  also  because  the  mother  herself  was  only  a 
puppy,  delicate  and  diminutive. 

In  the  beginning  of  March  the  October  whelps  were  let  out 
all  day,  and  on  March  5th  we  put  them,  with  the  older  dogs, 
under  the  hood  of  the  fore-companion.  In  the  evening  the 
cover  was  put  on,  and  when  during  the  night  the  hole  near  the 
edge  of  the  ice  became  filled  up  with  snow,  it  got  so  warm  in 
the  hutch  that  the  hoar-frost  and  ice  melted  and  all  the  dogs  got 
wet.  The  pups  felt  the  cold  terribly  when  they  were  let  out  in 
the  morning,  and  we  therefore  took  them  down  into  the  saloon 
until  they  were  warm  again. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   THIRD    SUMMER 

On  the  Seventeenth  of  May  the  Fraui  was  in  about  83°  45' 
north  latitude  and  12°  50'  east  longitude.  We  again  celebrated 
the  day  with  a  flag  procession,  as  on  the  previous  Seventeenth  of 
May.  Mogstad  sat  on  the  bearskins  in  the  sledge,  driving  a 
team  of  seven  dogs,  and  with  the  band  {i.e.,  Bentzen)  at  his  side. 
Just  as  we  were  arranging  the  procession  for  the  march  upon 
the  ice,  five  female  narwhals  suddenly  appeared,  and  immediately 
afterwards  a  small  seal  was  seen  in  the  lane  abreast  of  the  ship 
— an  enlivening  sight,  which  we  accepted  as  a  good  omen  for 
the  coming  summer. 

The  great  hummock,  which  was  the  scene  of  our  merry-mak- 
ings on  the  Seventeenth  of  May  last  year,  was  now  so  far  away 
and  so  difficult  to  reach  on  account  of  lanes  and  rugged  ice  that 
the  festivities  in  the  open  air  were  limited  to  the  flag  procession. 
The  cortege  took  its  way  southward,  past  the  thermometer-hut, 
to  the  lane,  thence  northward  along  the  lane,  and  then  back  to 
the  ship,  where  it  dispersed,  but  not  before  it  had  been  photo- 
graphed. 

At  12  o'clock  a  salute  was  fired,  after  which  we  sat  down  to 
an  excellent  dinner,  with  genuine  "  Chateau  la  Fravi^'  vintage 
1896.*  The  table  was  laid  with  great  taste,  and  there  was  an 
elegant  paper  napkin  at  each  cover,  with  the  word  Frain  in  the 
corner  and  the  following  inscription  : 

*  This  claret  was  made  for  the  occasion,  and  consisted  of  the  juice  of 
dried  red  whortleberries  and  bilberries,  with  the  addition  of  a  little  spirits. 
I  was  highly  complimented  on  this  beverage,  and  served  it  again  on  other 
occasions. 


684  APPENDIX 

"  The  Seventeenth  May,  our  memorial  day. 
Recalls  what  our  fathers  have  done ; 
It  cheers  us  and  heartens  us  on  to  the  fray. 
And  shows  us  that  where  there's  a  will  there's  a  way, 
And,  with  right  on  our  side,  we  may  hope  to  display 
The  proud  banner  of  victory  won." 

During  the  dinner  speeches  were  made  in  honor  of  the  day,  of 
Norway,  of  Nansen  and  Johansen,  etc. 

During  the  days  following  May  17th  we  were  occupied  in 
getting  the  engine  and  its  appurtenances  ready  for  work  and 
clearing  the  rudder-well  and  the  propeller-well.  First  we  at- 
tempted to  pump  water  into  the  boiler  through  a  hose  let  down 
into  a  hole  out  upon  the  ice.  But  the  cold  was  still  so  intense 
that  the  water  froze  in  the  pump.  We  were  obliged  to  carry 
water  in  buckets  and  pour  it  into  the  boiler  by  means  of  a 
canvas  hose,  made  for  the  occasion  and  carried  from  the  boiler 
to  the  hatchway  above  the  engine-room.  Amundsen  thought 
at  first  that  he  had  got  the  bottom  cock  clear  so  that  he  could 
let  the  water  run  direct  into  the  boiler,  but  it  soon  became 
evident  that  it  was  too  slow  work  as  long  as  there  was  still  any 
ice  around  the  cock.  Later  on  we  hoisted  the  funnel  and 
lighted  the  furnaces,  and  on  the  afternoon  of  May  19th  the 
steam  was  up  for  the  first  time  since  we  got  into  the  ice  in  the 
autumn  of  1893. 

Next  we  cut  away  as  much  of  the  ice  as  possible  in  the  pro- 
peller-well, and  carried  a  steam  hose  down  into  it.  It  was  very 
effectual.  We  also  attempted  to  use  the  steam  for  melting 
away  the  ice  in  the  propeller-sheath  around  the  shaft,  but  with- 
out apparent  success.  We  easily  procured  water  for  the  boiler 
now  by  filling  the  water-tank  on  the  deck  with  ice  and  melting 
it  with  steam. 

After  supper  we  went  down  into  the  engine-room  to  try  to 
turn  the  shaft,  and  finally  we  succeeded  in  giving  it  a  three- 
quarters  turn.  This  was  victory,  and  we  were  all  fully  satisfied 
with  the  day's  work. 

The  following  day  we  melted  away  the  ice  in  the  rudder-well 
by  steam,  and   at    1.30  P.M.  Amundsen  began  to  "move"  the 


THE    THIRD    SUMMER  685 

engine.  Some  large  pieces  of  ice  floated  up  from  the  rudder- 
stock  or  frame  ;  we  fished  them  up,  and  everything  was  in  order. 
Amundsen  let  the  engine  work  some  time,  and  everybody  was 
down  with  him  to  see  the  wonder  with  their  own  eyes,  and  to 
be  convinced  that  he  really  had  got  it  to  turn  round. 

This  was  quite  an  event  for  us.  It  filled  us  with  renewed 
courage  and  hope  of  soon  getting  out  of  our  long  captivity, 
though  the  way  might  be  ever  so  long  and  weary.  The  Fravi 
was  no  longer  a  helpless  ball,  tossed  to  and  fro  at  the  caprice  of 
the  drift-ice.  Our  gallant  ship  had  awakened  to  renewed  life 
after  her  year- long  winter  sleep,  and  we  rejoiced  to  feel  the 
first  pulsations  of  her  strongly  beating  heart.  It  seemed  as  if 
the  Frani  understood  us,  and  wanted  to  say :  "  Onward  !  south- 
ward I  homeward  !" 

The  state  of  the  ice  around  the  ship,  however,  was  still  far 
from  being  so  favorable  as  to  give  us  any  prospect  of  getting 
out  just  at  present.  It  is  true  that  symptoms  of  spring  began 
to  show  themselves ;  the  temperature  rose,  and  the  snow  van- 
ished rapidly  ;  but  we  still  remained  at  about  the  same  latitude 
where  we  had  been  lying  for  months  —  namely,  at  about  84°. 
From  the  crow's-nest,  indeed,  we  could  see  a  large  channel,  which 
extended  southward  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach  ;  but  to  get 
through  the  belt  of  ice,  over  200  yards  wide,  which  separated 
us  from  it,  was  impossible  before  the  thick  pack-ice  slackened 
somewhat.  We  therefore  made  no  attempt  to  blast  the  ship 
free,  but  devoted  our  time  to  various  duties  on  board,  did  what- 
ever was  left  undone,  got  the  steam  windlass  in  order,  examined 
all  our  cordage,  and  so  forth. 

In  the  hole  in  the  ice  which  was  always  kept  open  for  the 
striking  of  the  log -line,  we  had  placed  the  heads  of  the  two 
bears,  so  that  the  amphipodes  might  pick  off  the  meat  for 
us,  a  task  which  they  usually  perform  quickly  and  effectually. 
One  day,  when  a  swarm  of  amphipodes  appeared  above  the 
bears'  heads,  Scott-Hansen  caught  a  lot  of  them  in  a  bag-net, 
and  had  them  cooked  for  supper,  intending  to  give  us  a  regular 
treat.  But  we  were  sadly  disappointed.  There  was  not  a  par- 
ticle of  meat  on  the  miserable  creatures — nothing  but  shells  and 


686  APPENDIX 

emptiness.  If  we  put  a  couple  of  dozen  into  our  mouths  at  a 
time  they  tasted  somewhat  like  shrimps.  But  I  am  afraid  that 
were  we  limited  to  such  fare,  and  nothing  else,  we  should  soon 
diminish  unpleasantly  in  weight. 

In  the  later  days  of  May  the  prospects  became  brighter,  as 
the  wind  changed  to  half  a  gale  from  the  east  and  north.  The 
ice  began  to  drift  slowly  towards  the  southwest,  and  continued 
to  slacken  at  the  same  time,  so  that  on  May  29th  we  could 
see  to  the  southward  a  good  deal  of  open  water,  with  dark  air 
above,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach. 

After  several  requests  had  been  made  to  me,  I  decided  to 
make  an  attempt  at  blasting  the  vessel  clear.  At  i  P.M.  we  set 
off  a  mine  of  1 10  pounds  of  gunpowder.  It  had  an  astonishing- 
ly good  effect,  wrenching  up  heavy  masses  of  ice  and  sending 
them  rushing  out  into  the  channel.  Our  hopes  revived,  and  it 
really  seemed  that  another  such  blasting  would  entirely  liberate 
the  vessel.  Immediately  after  dinner  we  went  to  work  to  lay 
out  another  large  mine  20  yards  abaft  the  stern.  It  gave  us  an 
incredible  amount  of  work  to  make  a  hole  in  the  ice  to  get  the 
charge  down.  We  first  bored  a  hole;  then  we  tried  to  make  it 
larger  by  blowing  it  out  by  means  of  small  gunpowder  charges, 
and  later  with  gun-cotton ;  but  it  was  of  no  avail.  Then  we  had 
to  resort  to  lances,  ice-picks,  steam — in  short,  to  every  possible 
means ;  but  all  in  vain.  The  ice  had,  however,  got  so  cracked  in 
all  directions,  owing  to  the  many  charges  which  had  been  ex- 
ploded in  the  same  place,  that  we  presumed  that  a  large  mine 
in  the  log-line  hole  would  blow  up  the  whole  mass.  As  the  ice 
was  thinner  at  that  part,  the  mine  was  lowered  to  a  depth  of  10 
yards.  It  exploded  with  terrific  effect.  A  mighty  column  of 
water  was  forced  as  high  as  the  foretop.  It  did  not  consist  of 
water  alone,  but  contained  a  good  many  lumps  of  ice,  which 
rained  down  for  some  distance  round.  One  piece  of  over  one 
hundredweight  came  down  right  through  the  tent  and  on  to 
the  forecastle;  other  pieces  flew  over  the  vessel,  and  fell  on  the 
starboard  side.  Scott-Hansen  and  Henriksen,  who  were  stand- 
ing on  the  ice  at  the  electric  battery  used  for  firing  the  mine, 
were  not  pleasantly  situated  when  the  mine  exploded.     When 


THE    THIRD    SUMMER  687 

the  shock  came  they  of  course  started  to  run  as  fast  as  their 
legs  would  carry  them,  but  they  did  not  get  away  quickly 
enough  to  reach  the  deep  snow.  The  pieces  of  ice  rained  un- 
mercifully down  upon  their  backs.  After  a  great  deal  of  trouble 
we  laid  and  fired  two  other  large  gunpowder  mines,  besides  some 
smaller  ones,  but  without  much  effect.  We  then  began  to  bore 
holes  for  two  gun-cotton  mines,  which  were  to  be  fired  simul- 
taneously. But  when  we  had  got  down  two  and  a  half  drill- 
lengths  the  screw  broke,  and  before  we  could  proceed  new 
grooves  had  to  be  filed  on  the  other  drill  before  we  could  use 
it  again.  At  12  o'clock  at  night  we  knocked  off  work,  after 
having  been  at  it  unceasingly  since  the  morning. 

Next  day  at  6  o'clock  the  boring  was  continued.  But  the  ice 
was  so  hard  and  difficult  to  work  at  that,  although  four  men 
were  handling  the  drill,  we  had  to  erect  a  small  crane  with  tackle 
to  hoist  the  drill  out  every  time  it  got  clogged  up.  The  ice  was 
so  thick  that  it  took  four  drill-lengths  (about  20  feet)  to  make  a 
hole  through  it.  One  of  the  gun-cotton  mines  was  now  lowered 
into  the  hole,  while  the  other  was  put  beneath  the  edge  of  an 
old  channel  by  means  of  a  long  pole.  Both  mines  were  fired 
simultaneously,  but  only  one  exploded.  We  connected  the 
wires,  and  then  the  other  went  off  too.  But  the  result  was  far 
from  answering  our  expectations.  Although  the  large  mines 
were  carried  down  to  a  depth  of  20  yards  where  the  ice  was 
thin,  the  resistance  was  too  great  for  us. 

The  blasting  was  now  discontinued  till  June  2d,  when  during 
the  night  the  ice  opened  up  along  the  old  lane  close  to  the  vessel. 
First  we  fired  a  gun-cotton  mine  right  abaft.  It  took  effect,  and 
split  the  ice  close  to  the  stern.  Next  we  drilled  a  hole  about  16 
feet  deep  right  abreast  of  the  ship,  and  loaded  it  with  10  prismer, 
or  330  grammes,  of  gun-cotton  (equivalent  to  about  30  pounds  of 
ordinary  gunpowder) ;  but  as  I  thought  it  would  be  too  risky  to 
explode  a  mine  of  this  strength  so  near  the  vessel,  we  first  fired  a 
small  gunpowder  mine  of  1 1  pounds,  to  see  what  effect  it  would 
have.  The  result  was  insignificant,  so  the  large  mine  was  fired. 
It  made  things  lively  indeed !  The  ship  received  such  a  shock 
that  one  of  the  paintings  and  a  rifle  fell  down  on  the  floor  in  the 


688  APPENDIX 

saloon,  and  the  clock  in  my  cabin  was  hurled  from  the  wall.  It 
was  evidently  felt  in  the  engine-room  as  well,  for  Amundsen  had 
a  bottle  and  a  lamp-chimney  smashed.  On  the  ice  the  explosion 
took  such  good  effect  that  the  ship  nearly  broke  loose  at  one 
blow ;  she  was  now  merely  hanging  on  a  little  forward  and  aft. 
With  a  little  more  work  we  might  have  got  quite  clear  the  same 
evening,  but  I  left  her  as  she  was  to  avoid  the  trouble  of  moor- 
ing her.  Instead  of  that  we  had  something  extra  after  supper; 
we  considered  that  we  had  done  such  a  good  stroke  of  work  that 
day  that  we  deserved  a  reward. 

Next  morning  we  blew  away  the  ice  that  held  our  bow.  I  my- 
self took  a  pickaxe  and  commenced  to  hack  away  at  the  ice 
which  held  the  stern  fast.  I  had  hardly  been  at  work  at  this  for 
more  than  four  or  five  minutes  before  the  vessel  suddenly  gave 
a  lurch,  settled  a  little  deeper  at  the  stern,  and  moved  away  from 
the  edge  of  the  ice,  until  the  hawsers  became  taut.  She  now  lay 
about  6  inches  higher  at  the  bow  than  when  she  froze  fast  in 
the  autumn.  Thus  the  Fram  was  free,  and  ready  to  force  her 
way  through  the  ice  as  soon  as  the  circumstances  would  permit. 
But  we  were  still  unable  to  move. 

Even  in  the  month  of  May  there  had  been  signs  of  whales 
and  seals  in  the  channels,  and  an  occasional  sea-bird  had  also  put 
in  an  appearance.  During  the  months  of  June  and  July  there 
was  still  more  animal  life  around  us,  so  that  we  could  soon  go  in 
for  hunting  to  our  hearts'  content.  During  the  summer  we  not 
only  shot  a  number  of  fulmars,  black  guillemots,  skuas,  auks, 
and  little  auks,  but  also  a  couple  of  eider-ducks,  and  even  a  brace 
of  broad-beaked  snipe.  We  also  shot  a  number  of  small  seals, 
but  only  got  hold  of  six ;  the  others  sank  so  rapidly  that  we 
could  not  reach  them  in  time.  As  a  matter  of  course,  we  wel- 
comed every  opportunity  of  a  hunting  expedition,  especially 
when  there  was  a  bear  in  the  case.  It  was  not  often  he  did 
us  the  honor,  but  the  greater  was  the  excitement  and  interest 
when  his  appearance  was  announced.  Then  the  lads  would 
get  lively,  and  hastily  prepare  to  give  the  visitor  a  suitable  re- 
ception. Altogether  we  killed  sixteen  or  seventeen  full-grown 
bears  during    the    summer,  and  a  young    one,  which  we   capt- 


THE    THIRD    SUMMER  689 

ured  alive,  but  had  to  kill  later  on,  as  it  made  a  fearful  noise  on 
board. 

One  night  in  the  beginning  of  June,  when  Henriksen  was  on 
his  way  to  the  observation-house  to  take  the  readings  of  the 
instruments,  a  bear  suddenly  came  upon  him.  Before  starting 
on  his  scientific  quest  he  had  been  prudent  enough  to  go  up  on 
the  bridge  to  have  a  look  around  and  see  whether  the  coast  was 
clear,  but  he  did  not  observe  anything  suspicious.  When  he 
approached  the  observation-house  he  suddenly  heard  a  hissing 
sound  close  by,  and  caught  sight  of  a  grinning  bear,  which  was 
standing  at  a  pressure-ridge  staring  at  him.  Naturally  Henrik- 
sen felt  anything  but  comfortable  at  this  unexpected  meeting, 
unarmed  as  he  was.  He  at  first  considered  whether  he  should 
beat  a  dignified  retreat,  or  whether  he  should  fly  at  the  top  of 
his  speed.  Both  parties  were  equally  far  from  the  vessel,  and 
if  the  bear  had  evil  intentions  it  might  be  advisable  to  retreat 
without  delay  before  he  approached  any  nearer.  He  started  ofT 
as  fast  as  he  could,  and  was  not  sure  whether  the  beast  was  not 
at  his  heels;  but  he  reached  the  vessel  safely  and  seized  his  gun, 
which  was  standing  ready  on  deck.  Before  he  came  out  upon 
the  ice  again  the  dogs  had  scented  the  bear,  and  at  once  at- 
tacked him.  The  bear  at  first  jumped  up  on  the  observation- 
house,  but  the  dogs  followed,  so  down  he  went  again,  and  with 
such  alacrity,  too,  that  Henriksen  had  no  time  to  fire.  The  bear 
started  off  to  the  nearest  channel,  where  he  disappeared  both 
from  the  dogs  and  the  hunter.  In  his  eagerness  "  Gorm  " 
jumped  out  upon  some  pieces  of  ice  which  were  floating  in  the 
thick  brash  in  the  channel,  and  now  he  was  afraid  to  jump  back 
again.  There  he  sat  howling.  I  heard  the  wailing,  and  soon 
caught  sight  of  him  from  the  crow's-nest,  whereupon  Scott- 
Hansen  and  I  started  off  and  rescued  him. 

Some  days  later,  at  about  10  o'clock  in  the  morning,  we 
heard  Nordahl  crying,  "  Bear  !"  and  all  hurried  on  deck  with  our 
rifles.  But  the  dogs  had  had  the  start  of  us,  and  had  already 
put  the  bears  to  flight.  Mogstad  perceived,  however,  from  the 
crow's-nest,  that  the  dogs  had  come  up  with  them  at  a  small 
lane,  where  they  had  taken  the  water,  and  he  then  came  down 
IT.-44 


690  APPENDIX 

to  tell  me.  He  and  I  started  off  in  pursuit.  The  condition 
of  the  ice  was  good,  and  we  made  rapid  progress ;  but  as  we 
had  the  wind  on  our  side,  it  was  some  time  before  we  could 
distinguish  the  barking  of  the  dogs  so  as  to  be  able  to  guide 
ourselves  by  it.  Presently  I  caught  sight  of  one  of  the  dogs  be- 
hind a  small  ridge ;  soon  I  saw  some  more,  and  at  last  I  sighted 
the  bears.  They  were  both  sitting  on  a  floe  in  the  channel, 
leaning  with  their  backs  against  a  big  piece  of  ice.  Two  of  the 
dogs  had  jumped  out  upon  the  floe,  while  the  others  stood  on 
guard  round  the  channel  or  pool.  The  dogs  had  played  their 
part  well,  keeping  such  a  close  watch  upon  the  bears  that  we 
had  no  difficulty  in  giving  them  their  quietus.  They  both  tum- 
bled over  on  the  spot ;  but  as  they  moved  slightly,  we  gave 
them  a  final  shot,  just  to  make  sure. 

Well,  there  they  lay.  But  to  get  out  to  them  was  not  so 
easy.  Finally,  having  walked  round  the  pool,  we  succeeded  in 
getting  out  upon  the  floe  from  the  other  side,  where  the  dis- 
tance from  the'  solid  ice  was  less  and  where  some  small  floes 
formed  a  kind  of  bridge.  We  cleaned  the  game,  and  then 
tried  to  haul  the  bodies  over  upon  the  solid  ice.  This  we  ac- 
complished by  putting  a  running  noose  over  the  muzzles  of  the 
bears  and  pulling  them  through  the  water  to  the  edge  of  the 
ice,  where  we  pushed  some  small  floes  beneath  them  ;  and  then, 
with  our  united  strength,  we  hauled  them  up.  When  home- 
ward bound  we  met  Nordahl,  Pettersen,  Bentzen,  Henriksen, 
and  the  mate,  who  had  guessed  from  the  report  of  our  guns 
that  there  was  business  on  hand,  and  had  started  out  to  meet 
us  with  sledges  and  harness  for  the  dogs.  The  sledges  were 
lashed  together,  one  bear  was  placed  on  each,  and,  with  nine 
dogs  harnessed  to  them  and  a  man  sitting  astride  each  bear,  off 
they  went  at  such  a  speed  that  the  rest  of  us  had  to  run  to  keep 
pace  with  them. 

On  the  night  of  June  24th  we  again  received  a  visit  from 
two  bears.  Nordahl  discovered  them  when,  at  12  o'clock,  he  went 
out  to  the  observation-house  ;  he  came  running  back,  and  called 
those  who  had  not  yet  gone  to  bed.  But  when  they  hurried  out 
upon  the  ice  the  bears  saw  them  immediately  and  disappeared. 


THE    THIRD    SUMMER  691 

Three  days  later  a  she-bear,  with  a  young  cub,  came  trotting 
towards  the  vessel  at  noon.  We  burned  some  blubber  in  order 
to  attract  them,  but  the  bear  was  very  cautious,  and  it  was 
some  time  before  she  approached  to  within  200  to  300  yards. 
Then  the  mate  could  not  restrain  himself  any  longer  and  fired, 
so  the  rest  of  us  sent  her  a  few  shots  at  the  same  time,  and  she 
fell  after  walking  a  few  paces.  Some  of  us  took  the  "  pram  " 
and  pulled  across  to  the  place,  as  there  was  a  wide  channel  be- 
tween the  bear  and  the  vessel.  The  cub,  poor  thing,  was  a  fine 
little  fellow,  with  almost  perfectly  white  fur  and  a  dark  muzzle ; 
it  was  about  the  size  of  one  of  our  smallest  dogs.  When  they 
came  up,  he  sat  down  on  his  mother's  body,  remained  there 
quite  still,  and  seeming  for  the  present  to  take  matters  calmly. 
Henriksen  put  a  strap  around  his  neck,  and  when  the  mother 
was  conveyed  to  the  channel  he  followed  quite  willingly,  and 
sat  down  on  her  back  again  when  she  was  towed  across.  But 
when,  on  arriving  at  the  ship,  he  found  he  was  to  be  separated 
from  his  mother  and  brought  on  board,  it  was  quite  another 
story.  He  resisted  with  all  his  strength,  and  was  in  a  perfect 
rage.  He  got  worse  when  he  was  let  loose  under  the  com- 
panion-hood on  board.  He  carried  on  like  a  frenzied  being, 
biting,  tearing,  growling,  and  howling  with  wild  rage,  like  a 
veritable  fiend,  ceasing  only  as  long  as  he  was  occupied  in  de- 
vouring the  pieces  of  meat  thrown  to  him.  Never  have  I  seen 
in  any  one  creature  such  a  combination  of  all  the  most  sav- 
age qualities  of  wild  beasts  as  I  found  in  this  little  monster. 
And  he  was  still  quite  a  cub !  In  the  evening  I  gave  orders  to 
rid  us  of  this  unpleasant  passenger,  and  Mogstad  ended  his  days 
with  a  well-aimed  blow  of  the  hatchet. 

For  about  a  fortnight  we  saw  no  bears,  but  during  the  night 
of  July  1 2th  we  had  a  visit  from  three,  one  of  which,  after  a  hot 
pursuit,  was  killed  by  Scott-Hansen,  the  mate,  Nordahl,  and 
Bentzen.  The  dogs,  too,  did  good  service  this  time.  The 
other  two  bears  sneaked  off  at  the  first  shot,  and  were  lost  to 
sight  in  the  fog. 

On  the  evening  of  July  i8th  Mogstad  and  I  shot  a  bear, 
which  we  should  hardly  have  got  hold  of  but  for  the  sagacity 


692  APPENDIX 

and  alacrity  of  "  Bella."  The  dogs  at  first  attacked  him  once 
or  twice,  but  after  a  short  resistance  he  jumped  into  the  water, 
and  crossed  over  two  broad  lanes,  which  it  took  the  dogs  a  long 
time  to  get  round.  He  was  just  about  to  plunge  into  a  third 
channel  when  "  Bella,"  who  in  the  meantime  had  come  round, 
intercepted  him  not  20  feet  from  the  edge.  At  a  distance  of 
200  or  300  yards  Mogstad  fired,  and  was  lucky  enough  to  hit 
him  in  the  head,  bringing  him  down,  and  he  now  made  only 
some  feeble  attempts  to  keep  the  dogs  off.  I  then  sent  him  a 
shot  behind  the  shoulder  ;  but,  as  he  was  not  quite  dead,  Mog- 
stad gave  him  the  final  one. 

On  July  20th  the  mate  shot  a  large  bear,  which  came  swim- 
ming across  a  channel ;  and  we  killed  our  last  bear  on  the  even- 
ing of  August  6th,  but  in  such  an  awkward  position  that  we 
had  to  leave  the  meat,  and  it  was  as  much  as  we  could  do  to 
get  the  hide  on  board. 

In  the  matter  of  birds,  we  were  also  pretty  fortunate.  For 
instance,  Scott-Hansen  and  I  one  night  shot  9  little  auks,  i  kit- 
tiwake,  and  i  skua,  and  the  following  day  21  more  little  auks 
and  2  black  guillemots.  Henriksen  in  one  day's  shooting 
bagged  18  little  auks  and  i  black  guillemot,  and  Nordahl,  26 
little  auks  and  i  black  guillemot ;  and,  later  on,  when  there  had 
been  an  abundance  of  game  for  some  days,  we  killed  as  many 
as  30  to  40  birds  in  the  course  of  a  few  hours. 

This  hunting  life  had  not  only  a  beneficial  effect  upon  our 
spirits,  which  occasionally  were  rather  low,  but  it  also  gave  us 
an  appetite,  which  sometimes  was  quite  ravenous.  When  we 
were  weighed  at  the  end  of  the  month  we  found  that,  whereas 
some  of  us  had  previously  been  losing  weight,  we  had  now 
steadily  and  uniformly  increased  from  the  time  when  auk's 
breast,  roast  guillemot,  stewed  kittiwake,  skua  soup,  and  last, 
but  not  least,  ribs  of  bear,  became  the  daily  fare  on  board. 

Indeed,  we  stood  in  need  of  all  the  encouragement  and  good 
living  which  our  hunting  procured  us.  The  state  of  the  ice  was 
anything  but  cheering,  and  the  prospect  of  getting  out  of  it 
during  the  present  year  became  less  every  day. 

During  the  first  days  following  the  release  of  the  Fraiii  the 


THE    THIRD    SUMMER  693 

ice  was  comparatively  quiet ;  but  on  June  8th  and  9th  we  had 
some  bad  pressures,  especially  on  the  latter  day,  when  the  stern 
of  the  vessel  was  pressed  about  6  feet  upward,  so  that  the  rud- 
der-well was  quite  out  of  the  water,  while  the  bow  was  raised 
about  2  feet,  with  4°  list  to  port.  On  the  loth  and  iith  the 
pressure  was  also  strong,  especialh'  during  the  night,  from  1 1.30 
P.M.  till  3  or  4  A.M. 

Finally  the  ice  slackened  so  much  on  the  morning  of  June 
1 2th  that  there  was  a  prospect  of  warping  the  vessel  some  dis- 
tance ahead.  As  the  brash  was  still  very  thick  we  did  not 
think  it  possible  to  haul  ourselves  along  without  using  the 
steam  windlass,  so  I  gave  orders  to  start  a  fire  under  the  boiler. 
But  before  steam  was  up  the  channel  opened  so  much  that  we 
succeeded  in  warping  the  ship  through  the  narrowest  passage. 
When  steam  was  up  we  steamed  through  the  pool,  where  I  had 
found  a  good  berth  for  the  ship.  As  the  rudder  was  not  yet 
shipped  I  had  sometimes  to  go  astern,  so  as  to  be  able  to  turn 
the  vessel.  We  remained  there  till  June  14th,  when  the  ice 
slackened  a  little,  and  we  saw  a  channel  in  a  S.S.W.  direction, 
and  determined  to  make  for  it.  So  we  lighted  the  furnace, 
shipped  the  rudder,  and  made  at  full  speed  for  a  narrow  rift, 
which  led  into  the  channel.  Time  after  time  we  forced  the 
vessel  into  the  rift,  but  all  in  vain :  the  edges  would  not  budge 
a  hair's-breadth.  I  let  the  vessel  remain  for  some  time,  working 
at  full  speed  endeavoring  to  force  the  rift,  altering  the  position 
of  the  rudder  occasionally.  This  manoeuvre  was  partially  suc- 
cessful, as  we  got  the  vessel  into  the  rift  as  far  as  the  fore-rigging. 
But  that  was  all  we  could  do.  The  opening  began  to  close  up, 
and  we  had  to  return  and  moor  in  the  same  place  as  before. 
This  was  all  the  more  provoking  as  the  whole  opening  was  not 
longer  than  about  three-fourths  the  ship's  length. 

We  remained  there  till  the  evening  of  the  27th,  when  the 
ice  slackened  so  much  that  I  decided  to  make  a  new  attempt. 
We  got  up  steam  and  commenced  to  force  the  ice  at  11.30. 
It  was  slow  work  in  the  heavy  ice,  and  at  2  o'clock  we  had  to 
moor  the  ship,  having  advanced  about  2  miles  S.E.  by  S. 
We  tried  the  engine  this  time  as  a  compound  engine,  with  a 


694  APPENDIX 

favorable  result.  It  made  i6o  revolutions  per  minute;  but  the 
consumption  of  coal  was  of  course  correspondingly  greater,  al- 
most twice  as  much  as  usual.  We  remained  there  about  a 
week,  until  on  July  3d  the  ice  opened  suf^ciently  to  allow  us 
to  advance  about  3  miles  through  a  channel,  which  ran  S.S.W. 
During  the  night  between  the  6th  and  the  7th  we  made  an- 
other attempt  to  force  the  ice,  but  had  only  made  about  i  mile 
when  we  had  to  moor  again. 

The  southerly  wind  which  predominated  at  that  time  held 
the  ice  thickly  packed  together,  and  there  was  no  drift  to  speak 
of.  On  the  other  hand,  there  had  been  since  the  middle  of  June 
a  good  deal  of  current,  owing  to  the  set  of  the  tide.  We  could 
not,  however,  observe  that  the  current  really  flowed  in  any 
definite  direction  ;  sometimes  the  line  would  show  every  point 
in  the  compass  during  the  twenty-four  hours.  The  current  was, 
however,  often  very  strong,  and  would  occasionally  spin  the  ice- 
floes around  in  the  channels  in  a  way  that  made  you  uncomfort- 
able to  look  at  it.  The  ship,  too,  would  often  receive  such 
violent  shocks  from  these  dancing  floes  and  blocks  of  ice  that 
loose  objects  tumbled  down,  and  the  whole  rigging  shook. 
The  sea  continued  very  deep.  For  instance,  on  July  6th 
we  could  not  get  bottom  at  3000  metres  (1625  fathoms);  but 
two  days  later — we  were  then  about  83°  2'  north  latitude — we 
took  soundings  and  reached  bottom  at  3400  metres  (1841 
fathoms). 

On  July  6th  we  succeeded  in  warping  the  ship  some  two  or 
three  short  stretches  at  a  time,  but  it  was  slow  and  hard  work: 
the  ice  was  bad,  and  the  contrary  wind  im.peded  us  very  much. 
But  though  progress  was  slow,  yet  progress  it  was,  and  I  gave 
orders  that  the  ship  should  be  hauled  along  as  often  as  there  was 
any  opportunity  to  advance  a  little  southward. 

But  although  we  struggled  along  in  this  manner  by  short 
distances  at  a  time,  the  observation  on  the  13th  revealed  to  us 
the  fact  that  we  had  actually  been  drifting  a  considerable  way 
backward,  having  returned  to  83°  12'  north  latitude.  It  might 
seem  ridiculous,  under  such  circumstances,  to  continue  pushing 
forward  ;  but,  gloomy  as  the  prospects  were,  we  tried  to  keep  up 


THE   THIRD   SUMMER  695 

our  hopes,  and  were  ready  to  utilize  the  very  first  chance  which 
should  present  itself. 

Late  in  the  evening  of  July  17th  the  ice  began  to  slacken  so 
much  that  we  decided  to  get  up  steam.  True,  it  closed  up 
again  at  once,  but  nevertheless  we  kept  up  steam.  Nor  were  we 
disappointed,  for  at  i  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  water  opened 
so  much  that  we  were  able  to  steam  ahead,  and  we  made  3 
miles  in  a  southerly  direction.  Later  in  the  morning  we  were 
stopped  by  an  immense  floe  of  ice,  extending  many  miles;  and 
we  had  to  make  fast.  The  whole  day  following  we  remained 
there.  About  midnight  the  ice  slackened  a  good  deal,  but  the 
fog  was  so  dense  that  we  could  see  nothing.  At  last,  on  the 
19th,  we  made  what  we  considered  excellent  headway.  Starting 
when  the  fog  lifted  a  little  in  the  forenoon,  we  made  about  10 
miles  from  12.30  P.M.  till  8  P.M.  This  stroke  of  good  luck  made 
our  spirits  revive  wonderfully,  and  they  rose  still  more  the  fol- 
lowing day  when,  notwithstanding  the  fog  and  though  we  had 
to  stop  three  times,  we  advanced  from  83°  14'  in  the  morning 
to  82°  52'  at  noon  and  82°  39'  midnight.  From  the  20th  to  the 
27th  we  continued  to  make  good  progress.  By  midnight  on  the 
last-named  day  we  had  reached  81°  32'  north  latitude. 

From  July  27th  till  August  2d  it  was  slow  and  tiresome  work. 
By  August  2d  we  had  not  got  beyond  81°  26'  north  latitude. 
At  the  same  time  we  had  been  carried  some  distance  eastward — 
namely,  to  13°  41'  east  longitude. 

On  Monday,  August  3d,  we  made  about  2  miles  to  the  south- 
west, but  had  to  remain  moored  in  impossible  waters  till  the 
8th,  when  it  slackened  so  much  around  the  vessel  that  we  were 
able  to  proceed  again  at  9  A.M.  However,  we  had  only  made 
about  6  miles,  when  we  were  stopped  by  a  long,  narrow  strait. 
We  tried  blasting  with  ordinary  gunpowder,  and  later  with  gun- 
cotton,  and  time  after  time  we  steamed  full  speed  against  the 
smaller  floes  that  blocked  the  strait,  but  without  effect.  These 
floes,  as  a  rule,  are  not  so  small  and  innocent  as  they  appear. 
They  consist  generally  of  the  fragments  of  old,  thick,  and  very 
tough  pressure-ridges  which  have  been  broken  up.  When  these 
pieces  get  free,  they  sink  deep  below  the  surface  of  the  water. 


696  APPENDIX 

leaving  only  a  comparatively  insignificant  part  of  them  discerni- 
ble, while  the  lower  parts  may  be  very  large.  It  was  precisely 
this  description  of  floe  that  blocked  the  channel  against  us. 
They  were  so  tough  that  it  was  useless  to  try  to  break  them 
with  the  stem  of  the  vessel,  although  we  repeatedly  made  at 
them  with  full  speed.  We  could  plainly  see  how  the  tough  old 
ice  bent  and  rose  up  at  the  shock  without  breaking.  The  blast- 
ing of  such  floes  was  frequently  impracticable,  as  they  were  of 
such  a  thickness  that  we  were  unable  to  lay  the  mine  under 
them.  And  even  if  we  succeeded  in  blowing  up  one  of  these 
floes  we  gained  little  or  nothing,  as  the  channel  was  too  narrow 
to  allow  the  pieces  to  float  astern,  and  they  were  too  heavy  and 
thick  to  be  forced  beneath  the  solid  edge  of  ice. 

Occasionally  it  happened  that  old,  thick  ice  suddenly  emerged 
from  beneath  the  water  in  a  channel  or  opening  which  we  were 
just  a,bout  to  pass  into,  thus  blocking  up  the  passage  before  us. 
On  one  of  these  occasions  the  Fraui  received  a  blow  in  the  ribs 
that  hardly  any  other  vessel  would  have  withstood.  As  we 
were  passing  through  an  open  channel  I  saw  from  the  crow's- 
nest  one  end  of  a  large  submerged  floe  appearing  above  the  edge 
of  the  solid  ice,  and  I  immediately  gave  orders  to  steer  clear  so 
as  to  pass  round  it.  But  at  the  very  moment  when  we  reckoned 
to  clear  it  the  floe  was  released,  and  came  to  the  surface  with 
such  a  rush  that  the  spray  rose  high  into  the  air  and  struck  the 
Frani  at  the  fore-rigging  on  the  starboard  side  with  such  tre- 
mendous force  that  the  ship  lurched  violently  and  fell  about  10 
points  out  of  her  course,  until  she  ran  up  against  some  small 
floes.  When  the  monster  floe  emerged  it  lifted  a  huge  mass  of 
water  and  sent  it  like  a  roaring  cataract  out  into  the  channel. 

Something  similar  happened  when  we  occasionally  touched  a 
drifting  hummock  that  was  just  on  the  point  of  rolling  over, 
owing  to  the  quicker  melting  of  the  ice  below  the  water-line. 
The  slightest  push  would  be  enough  to  capsize  the  hummock 
and  turn  it  over  in  such  a  violent  way  that  the  sea  around  us 
would  become  as  agitated  as  during  a  storm. 

On  August  9th  we  worked  the  whole  day  clearing  the  chan- 
nel, but  only  made  slight  headway.     On  the  loth  the  work  was 


n 


THE    THIRD    SUMMER  699 

continued,  and  in  the  course  of  the  forenoon  we  finally  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  through.  During  the  rest  of  the  day  we 
also  made  some  headway  to  the  south  until  the  ice  became 
impassable,  and  we  were  compelled  to  make  fast  at  10  r.M., 
having  made  about  2  miles. 

On  account  of  the  fog  we  were  unable  to  take  any  ob- 
servation until  the  9th,  when  we  found  ourselves  in  81°  48' 
north  latitude,  the  last  latitude  observation  we  made  in  the 
drift-ice. 

On  Tuesday,  the  i  ith,  we  again  proceeded  southward  by  dint 
of  arduous  labor  in  clearing  floes  and  brash,  which  often  blocked 
our  way.  At  7.30  P.M.  we  had  to  make  fast  in  a  narrow  strait, 
until,  in  the  course  of  the  night,  we  cleared  the  obstacles  away 
and  were  able  to  proceed  to  the  southwest.  Progress  was,  how- 
ever, slow,  and  on  the  morning  of  August  12th  we  were  stopped 
by  a  very  awkward  floe.  We  tried  to  blast  it  away,  but  while  we 
were  at  work  on  this  the  ice  tightened  up  quickly,  and  left  the 
vessel  imprisoned  between  two  big  floes.  In  the  course  of  a 
couple  of  hours  it  slackened  again  in  a  S.W.  direction,  and  we 
steamed  off  in  comparatively  fair  channels  until  12.30  P.M., 
when  a  floe  stopped  our  farther  progress.  We  had  made  9^ 
miles  in  about  five  hours  this  forenoon.  Some  thin  ice  now  ap- 
peared, and  from  the  crow's-nest  we  could  see,  when  the  fog 
cleared  off  a  little  for  a  few  moments,  several  large  channels  run- 
ning in  a  southerly  direction  both  east  and  west  of  our  position. 
Besides,  we  noticed  an  increase  in  the  number  of  birds  and  small 
seals,  and  we  also  saw  an  occasional  bearded  seal  —  all  evidences 
that  we  could  not  be  very  far  from  the  open  water. 

Between  3  and  4  P.M.  we  w^ere  released  from  the  floes  which 
had  held  us  enclosed,  and  at  5.30  P.M.  Ave  steamed  off  in  a  S.E. 
direction  through  steadily  improving  ice.  The  ice  now  became 
noticeably  thin  and  brittle,  so  that  we  were  able  to  force  the 
smaller  floes.  From  5.30  P.M.  till  midnight  we  advanced  about 
16  miles;  the  engine  was  used  as  compound  during  the  last 
watch. 

After  midnight  on  August  13th  we  steered  S.  W.,  then  S.  and 
S.E.,  the  ice  continuing  to  grow  slacker.  At  3  o'clock  we  sighted 


700  APPENDIX 

a  dark  expanse  of  water  to  the  S.S.E.,  and  at  3.45  we  steered 
through  the  last  ice-floes  out  into  open  water.* 

WE  WERE  FREE  !  Behind  us  lay  three  years  of  work  and 
hardships,  with  their  burden  of  sad  thought  during  the  long 
nights,  before  us  life  and  reunion  with  all  those  who  were  dear 
to  us.  Just  a  few  more  days!  A  chaos  of  contending  feelings 
came  over  each  and  every  one.  For  some  time  it  seemed  as  if 
we  could  hardly  realize  what  we  saw,  as  if  the  deep  blue,  lapping 
water  at  the  bow  were  an  illusion,  a  dream.  We  were  still  a 
good  way  above  the  eightieth  degree  of  latitude,  and  it  is  only 
in  very  favorable  summers  that  ice-free  water  stretches  so  far 
north.  Were  we,  perhaps,  in  a  large,  open  pool?  Had  we  still 
a  great  belt  of  ice  to  clear? 

No,  it  was  real !  The  free,  unbounded  sea  was  around  us  on 
every  side ;  and  we  felt,  with  a  sense  of  rapture,  how  the  Fraiii 
gently  pitched  with  the  first  feeble  swells. 

We  paid  the  final  honors  to  our  vanquished  antagonist  by 
firing  a  thundering  salute  as  a  farewell.  One  more  gaze  at  the 
last  faint  outlines  of  hummocks  and  floes,  and  the  mist  concealed 
them  from  our  view. 

We  now  shaped  our  course  by  the  compass  S.S.E.,  as  the  fog 
was  still  so  dense  that  no  observation  could  be  taken.  Our  plan 
was  at  first  to  steer  towards  Red  Bay,  get  our  landfall,  and 
thence  to  follow  the  west  coast  of  Spitzbergen  southward  till  we 
found  a  suitable  anchoring-place,  where  we  could  take  in  water, 
shift  the  coal  from  the  hold  into  the  bunkers,  and,  in  fact,  make 
the  Fravi  quite  ship-shape  for  our  homeward  trip. 

At  7  A.M.,  when  the  fog  lifted  slightly,  we  sighted  a  sail  on  to 
port,  and  shaped  our  course  for  her,  in  order  to  speak  to  her  and 
try  to  get  some  news  of  Dr.  Nansen  and  Johansen.  In  an  hour 
or  so  we  were  quite  near  her.  She  was  lying  to,  and  did  not 
seem  to  have  sighted  us  until  we  were  close  on  her.  The  mate 
then  ran  down  to  announce  that  a  monster  ship  was  bearing 
down  upon  them  in  the  fog.     Soon  the  deck  was  crowded  with 


*  Twenty-eight  days'  work  of  forcing  this  more  or  less  closely  packed 
ice  had  brought  us  a  distance  of  180  miles. 


THE    THIRD    SUMMER  /Oi 

people,  and  just  as  the  captain  put  his  head  out  the  Fraiii 
passed  close  up  on  the  weather-side  of  the  vessel,  and  we 
greeted  her  in  passing  with  a  thundering  broadside  from  our  star- 
board cannon.  We  then  turned  round  astern  of  her,  and  fired 
another  salute  to  leeward,  after  which  "hostilities"  were  dis- 
continued. No  doubt  it  was  a  rather  demonstrative  way  of 
making  ourselves  known  to  our  countrymen,  who  were  lying 
there  so  peacefully,  drifting  in  the  morning  mist,  and  probably 
thinking  more  of  seals  and  whales  than  of  the  Frain.  But  we 
trust  that  Captain  Botolfsen  and  his  crew  will  forgive  us  our 
overflowing  joy  at  this  our  first  meeting  with  human  beings 
after  three  long  years. 

The  vessel  was  the  galliot  Sostrcnc  (The  Sisters),  of  Tromso. 
The  first  question  which  was  shouted  to  him  as  we  passed 
alongside  was  this:  "Have  Nansen  and  Johansen  arrived?" 
We  had  hoped  to  receive  a  roaring  "  Yes,"  and  were  ready  to 
greet  the  answer  with  a  thundering  "  Hurrah"  and  salute;  but 
the  answer  we  got  was  short  and  sad  "No." 

Captain  Botolfsen  and  some  of  his  crew  came  on  board  to  us, 
and  had  to  go  through  a  regular  cross-fire  of  questions  of  every 
conceivable  kind.  Such  an  examination  they  had  certainly 
never  been  subjected  to,  and  probably  never  wmII  be  again. 

Among  the  many  items  of  news  which  we  received  was  one 
to  the  effect  that  the  Swedish  aeronaut.  Engineer  Andree,  had 
arrived  at  Danes  Island,  intending  to  proceed  thence  by  balloon 
to  discover  the  North  Pole. 

Botolfsen  came  with  us  as  a  passenger,  leaving  his  vessel  in 
charge  of  the  mate,  and  accompanied  us  as  far  as  Tromso.  We 
reshaped  our  course  about  noon  for  Red  Bay,  intending  to 
steam  from  there  to  Danes  Island  and  see  Mr.  Andree.  About 
midnight  we  sighted  land  ahead,  and  supposed  it  to  be  the  cape 
immediately  to  the  west  of  Red  Bay.  It  was  1041  days  since 
we  last  saw  land. 

We  lay  to  for  some  time  at  this  point,  waiting  for  the  fog  to 
clear  away  sufficiently  to  allow  us  to  find  the  landmarks.  As 
it  did  not  clear,  we  steamed  slowly  westward,  taking  frequent 
soundings,  and   soon    found  ourselves,  as  we  anticipated,  right 


702  APPENDIX 

in  "  Norsksundet "  (Norwegian  Sound),  and  proceeding  up,  we 
anchored  at  9.30  A.M.,  off  "  Hollaendernaeset "  (Dutch  Cape). 
The  fog  was  now  cleared,  and  we  soon  saw  the  steamship 
Virgo,  of  the  Andree  Expedition,  and  the  balloon-house  ashore. 

Through  the  telescope  we  could  see  that  our  arrival  had 
been  observed,  and  a  steam  -  launch  soon  came  alongside  with 
Mr.  Andree,  the  other  members  of  the  expedition,  and  Captain 
Zachau,  of  the  Virgo. 

Neither  could  these  gentlemen  give  us  any  news  of  the  fate 
of  our  comrades.  Our  spirits  became  still  more  depressed  than 
before.  We  had  confidently  expected  that  Nansen  and  Johan- 
sen  would  reach  home  before  us.  Now  it  seemed  as  if  we  were 
to  be  the  first  to  arrive. 

We  did  not,  however,  entertain  any  serious  fears  for  their 
safety,  especially  when  we  learned  that  the  Jackson  expedition 
had  spent  two  winters  in  Franz  Josef  Land.  It  was  highly  prob- 
able that  Dr.  Nansen  and  Johansen  would  sooner  or  later  meet 
with  this  expedition,  and  were,  perhaps,  only  waiting  for  a 
chance  of  getting  home.  But  if  they  had  not  met  with  Jackson, 
something  had  evidently  gone  amiss  with  them,  in  which  case 
they  needed  assistance,  and  that  as  soon  as  possible. 

Our  plans  were  soon  laid.  We  would  hurry  home  to  Tromso 
to  get  reliable  information,  and,  in  case  nothing  had  been  learned 
there  either,  we  would  complete  our  coal  supply — we  were  not 
in  want  of  anything  else — and  immediately  proceed  to  Franz 
Josef  Land,  to  make  a  search  for  them,  and,  as  we  hoped,  have 
the  unspeakable  pleasure  of  bringing  them  home  to  our  expect- 
ant fatherland  in  our  own  faithful  Frain. 

Our  stay  at  Danes  Island  was  consequently  cut  as  short  as 
possible.  We  paid  visits  to  the  Virgo,  saw  the  balloon,  which 
was  now  ready  to  start  as  soon  as  a  favorable  wind  would  per- 
mit of  it,  and  received  return  visits  from  our  amiable  Swedish 
friends.  During  the  night  we  finished  taking  in  water  and 
shifting  the  coal;  the  vessel  was  ready  for  sea,  and  at  3  A.M.  on 
August  15th  the  Frani  steamed  off,  with  sails  set,  through 
Sneerenburg  Bay  and  out  to  sea. 

During  the  passage  across  we  had  good  weather  and  a  fair 


THE   THIRD    SUMMER  703 

and  often  fresh  breeze,  the  vessel  making  good  speed :  upward 
of  9^  knots. 

At  9  A.M.  on  the  19th  we  saw  the  first  blue  ridges  of  our 
native  mountains.  By  noon  we  sighted  Logo,  and  at  8  P.M.  the 
north  point  of  Loppen.  Then  we  steered  into  Kva^nangen 
Fjord,  and  anchored  off  Skjairvo  at  2  o'clock  in  the  morning  of 
August  20th. 

As  soon  as  the  anchor  had  fallen,  I  called  the  doctor  and 
Scott-Hansen,  who  both  wanted  to  go  ashore  with  me.  But  as 
they  were  too  slow  with  their  toilet,  I  asked  Bentzen  to  put  me 
ashore  in  the  pram,  and  was  soon  at  the  telegraph  station,  where 
I  tried  to  knock  life  into  the  people  by  thundering  with  my 
clinched  fist  first  at  one  door,  then  at  another,  but  for  a  long 
time  in  vain.  At  last  a  man  put  his  head  out  of  a  window  on 
the  second  floor  to  inquire  what  kind  of  night-prowlers  were 
making  such  a  disturbance.  It  was  the  chief  of  the  telegraph 
station  himself.  He  describes  the  nocturnal  incident  in  a  letter 
to  one  of  the  Christiania  newspapers  in  the  following  pleasant 
manner : 

"  It  was  with  anything  but  amiable  feelings  and  intentions 
that  at  about  half-past  four  I  turned  out  to  see  what  wretch 
it  was  who  was  making  such  a  lively  rattle  at  my  front  door. 
Rather  lightly  clad,  I  put  my  head  out  of  the  window,  and 
roared  out,  'Hallo!  What's  the  matter?  Deuce  of  a  noise  to 
make  at  this  time  of  night !' 

"  A  man  dressed  in  gray,  with  a  heavy  beard,  stepped  for- 
ward. There  was  something  about  his  appearance  that  made 
me  think  at  once  that  I  had  perhaps  been  somewhat  too  hasty 
in  giving  vent  to  my  displeasure  at  being  called  up,  and  I  felt  a 
little  crestfallen  when  he  slyly  remarked, '  Yes,  that's  true;  but 
all  the  same  I  must  ask  you  to  open  the  door.  I  come  from  the 
Fravi.'  Immediately  it  dawned  upon  me  who  it  was.  It  could 
be  none  other  than  Sverdrup.  '  Coming  directly,  captain,'  I  an- 
swered, and  jumping  into  the  most  necessary  clothes,  down  I 
went  to  let  him  in.  He  was  not  at  all  annoyed  at  the  long 
waiting,  or  the   unfriendly  words  with  which  he  had  been  re- 


704  APPENDIX 

ceived,  when  he  set  foot  again  in  his  native  country  after  the 
long  and  famous  expedition,  but  was  very  kind  and  good-hu- 
mored when  I  begged  his  pardon  for  the  rudeness  with  which  I 
had  received  him.  In  Tcvy  inmost  heart  I  made  an  even  warmer 
apology  than  I  had  stammered  out  in  my  first  embarrassment. 

"  When  Sverdrup  was  seated,  the  first  question  was  naturally 
as  to  the  way  he  had  come.  They  had  just  arrived  from  off  the 
coast  of  Spitzbergen.  On  the  13th  they  had  got  out  into  open 
water,  where  they  almost  immediately  met  with  Captain  Botolf- 
sen,  from  Tromso,  who  was  there  with  his  whaling-ship.  They 
had  brought  him  with  them.  They  had  next  visited  Andree,  who 
was  about  to  pack  up  and  go  home,  and  had  then  proceeded  to 
this  place.  They  had  first  learned  from  Botolfsen,  and  then 
from  Andree,  who  ought  to  have  had  some  of  the  latest  tidings 
from  Norway,  that  nothing  was  known  about  Nansen,  whom 
they  hoped  to  find  at  home,  and  the  joy  they  were  feeling  at 
the  prospect  of  reaching  home  soon  was  considerably  damped 
by  this  news. 

"'  Ah,  but  I  can  give  you  news  of  Nansen,'  said  I.  '  He  ar- 
rived at  Vardo  on  August  13th,  and  is  now  at  Hammerfest. 
He's  probably  starting  for  Tromso  to-day  in  an  English  yacht.' 

"  '  Has  Nansen  arrived  ?' 

"  The  stalwart  form  bounded  up  in  a  state  of  excitement  rare- 
ly shown  by  this  man,  and  exclaiming,  '  I  must  tell  the  others  at 
once,'  he  vanished  out  of  the  door. 

"  A  moment  later  he  returned,  accompanied  by  Scott-Hansen, 
Blessing,  Mogstad,  and  Bentzen,  all  of  them  perfectly  wild  with 
joy  at  the  latest  news,  which  crowned  all,  and  allowed  them  to  give 
full  vent  to  their  exultation  at  being  once  more  in  their  native  land 
after  their  long  and  wearisome  absence,  which  the  uncertain  fate 
of  their  leader  and  his  comrade  would  otherwise  have  damped. 
And  they  did  rejoice!  '  Is  it  true?  Has  Nansen  arrived?'  was 
repeated  on  all  sides.  *  What  a  day  this  is,  what  joy !  And 
what  a  curious  coincidence  that  Nansen  should  arrive  on  the 
same  day  that  we  cleared  the  last  ice  and  steered  homeward  !' 
And  they  congratulated  each  other,  all  quivering  with  emotion, 
these  sturdy  fellows. 


THE    THIRD   SUMMER  705 

"  In  the  early  morning  two  thundering  reports  were  suddenly 
heard  from  the  Fravi,  followed  by  the  ringing  cheers  of  the 
crew  in  honor  of  their  absent  comrades.  The  inhabitants  of 
the  place,  who  were  fast  asleep,  were  quite  startled,  and  soon 
got  out  of  bed  ;  but  when  it  finally  dawned  upon  them  that  it 
could  be  none  other  than  the  Fram,  they  were  not  slow  in  turn- 
ing out  to  have  a  look  at  her. 

"  As  they  anchored  here,  the  fragrance  of  the  new-mown  hay 
was  wafted  to  them  from  the  shore,  and  to  them  it  seemed  mar- 
vellous. The  green  meadows  with  their  humble  flowers,  and 
the  few  trees  bent  and  almost  withered  by  the  merciless  wind 
and  weather,  looked  to  them  so  delightful  that  our  poor  island 
was  a  veritable  Eden  in  their  eyes.  '  Yes,  to-day  they  would 
have  a  good  roll  on  the  grass.' 

"  For  the  rest.  Mother  Nature  was  as  smiling  and  festally 
arrayed  as  could  be  expected  so  late  in  the  year  in  these  north- 
ern latitudes.  The  fjord  was  calm,  as  though  it  feared  by  the 
faintest  ripple  to  interrupt  the  tranquillity  which  enveloped  the 
tried  and  weather-beaten  warrior  now  resting  upon  its  smooth 
surface. 

"  They  were  all  quite  enthusiastic  about  the  vessel.  I  do 
not  believe  there  is  a  man  on  board  who  does  not  love  the 
Frain.  Sverdrup  declared  that  a  '  stronger  and  finer  ship  had 
never  been  built,  and  was  not  to  be  found  in  the  wide  world !'  " 

On  my  way  to  the  fjord  I  met  five  of  our  comrades.  Nor- 
dahl  hurried  at  once  on  board  with  the  glad  tidings,  while  the 
rest  of  us  settled  down  with  the  telegraph  manager  around  a 
smoking  cup  of  coffee,  which  tasted  delicious.  A  better  wel- 
come we  could  not  have  had.  But  it  did  not  end  with  the 
coffee  or  with  the  telegraph  manager.  Soon  the  popping  of 
champagne  corks  sounded  successively  in  the  houses  of  the 
store-keeper  and  local  magistrate,  while  the  telegraph  manager 
sent  message  upon  message  announcing  our  arrival  to  Dr.  Nan- 
sen,  his  Majesty  the  King,  the  Norwegian  Government,  and  to 
relations  and  friends. 

At  lo  A.M.  we  weighed  anchor  and  set  off  to  meet  Nansen 
11.-45 


7o6 


APPENDIX 


and  Johansen  at  Tromso,  passed  to  the  north  of  Skjaervo, 
and  steamed  south.  Off  Ulfstinden  we  met  the  steamer  King 
Ha/fdaii,  with  600  passengers  on  board,  coming  from  Tromso 
to  meet  us.  We  accepted  the  offer  to  take  us  in  tow,  and  at 
8.30  P.M.  the  Fram  ghded  into  the  harbor  of  Tromso,  accompa- 
nied by  hundreds  of  flag-covered  boats,  and  was  received  with 
cheers  and  hearty  welcome. 

Next  day,  August  25th,  at  4  P.M.,  Sir  George  Baden-Powell's 
steam-yacht  Otaria,  with  Dr.  Nansen  and  Johansen  on  board, 
arrived.  After  a  separation  of  seventeen  months,  our  number 
was  again  complete,  and  the  Norwegian  Polar  Expedition  was 
once  more  united. 


-1 

%■■ 

l\i     ^^ 

^ 

"™'-^^ 

L- 

,J^A'^gg 

i^^^nfl^^H 

1 

CONCLUSION 
Bv  Dr.  Nansen  \/ 

What,  then,  are  the  results  of  the  Norwegian  Polar  Expedi- 
tion ?  This  is  a  question  which  the  reader  might  fairly  expect 
to  find  answered  here  ;  but  the  scientific  observations  brought 
back  are  so  varied  and  voluminous  that  it  will  be  some  time 
yet  before  they  can  be  dealt  with  by  specialists  and  before  any 
general  estimate  of  their  significance  can  be  formed.  It  will, 
therefore,  be  necessary  to  publish  these  results  in  separate 
scientific  publications ;  and  if  I  now  attempted  to  give  an  idea 
of  them,  it  would  necessarily  be  imperfect,  and  might  easily 
prove  misleading.  I  shall,  therefore,  confine  myself  to  pointing 
out  a  few  of  their  more  important  features. 

In  the  first  place,  we  have  demonstrated  that  the  sea  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  the  Pole,  and  in  which,  in  my 
opinion,  the  Pole  itself  in  all  probability  lies,  is  a  deep  basin,  not 
a  shallow  one,  containing  many  expanses  of  land  and  islands,  as 
people  were  formerly  inclined  to  assume.  It  is  certainly  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  deep  channel  which  extends  from  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  northward  between  Spitzbergen  and  Greenland.  The 
extent  of  this  deep  sea  is  a  question  which  it  is  not  at  present 
easy  to  answer;  but  we  at  least  know  that  it  extends  a  long  way 
north  of  Franz  Josef  Land,  and  eastward  right  to  the  New 
Siberian  Islands.  I  believe  that  it  extends  still  farther  east,  as, 
I  think,  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  the  more  the 
Jcannette  expedition  drifted  north,  the  greater  depth  of  sea  did 
they  find.  For  various  reasons,  I  am  led  to  believe  that  in  a 
northerly  direction  also  this  deep  sea  is  of  considerable  extent. 
In  the  first  place,  nothing  was  observed,  either  during  the  drift 


7o8  APPENDIX 

of  the  Frain  or  during  our  sledge  expedition  to  the  north,  that 
would  point  to  the  proximity  of  any  considerable  expanse  of 
land ;  the  ice  seemed  to  drift  unimpeded,  particularly  in  a 
northerly  direction.  The  way  in  which  the  drift  set  straight  to 
the  north  as  soon  as  there  was  a  southerly  wind  was  most  strik- 
ing. It  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  the  wind  could 
head  the  drift  back  towards  the  southeast.  Had  there  been 
any  considerable  expanse  of  land  within  reasonable  distance  to 
the  north  of  us,  it  would  have  blocked  the  free  movement  of 
the  ice  in  that  direction.  Besides,  the  large  quantity  of  drift- 
ice,  which  drifts  southward  wath  great  rapidity  along  the  east 
coast  of  Greenland  all  the  way  down  to  Cape  Farewell  and 
beyond  it,  seems  to  point  in  the  same  direction.  Such  exten- 
sive ice-fields  must  have  a  still  larger  breadth  of  sea  to  come 
from  than  that  through  which  we  drifted.  Had  the  Fj-aui  con- 
tinued her  drift  instead  of  breaking  loose  to  the  north  of  Spitz- 
bergen,  she  would  certainly  have  come  down  along  the  coast  of 
Greenland  ;  but  probably  she  would  not  have  got  close  in  to 
that  coast,  but  would  have  had  a  certain  quantity  of  ice  be- 
tween her  and  it ;  and  that  ice  must  come  from  a  sea  lying 
north  of  our  route.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  quite  probable  that 
land  may  exist  to  a  considerable  extent  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Pole  between  the  Pole  and  the  North  American  archipelago. 
It  appears  to  me  only  reasonable  to  assume  that  this  multitude 
of  islands  must  extend  farther  towards  the  north. 

As  a  result  of  our  expedition,  I  think  we  can  now  form  a 
fairly  clear  idea  of  the  way  in  which  the  drift-ice  is  continually 
moving  from  one  side  of  the  polar  basin  north  of  Bering  Strait 
and  the  coast  of  Siberia,  and  across  the  regions  around  the 
Pole,  and  out  towards  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  Where  geographers 
at  one  time  were  disposed  to  locate  a  solid,  immovable,  and 
massive  ice-mantle,  covering  the  northern  extremity  of  our 
globe,  we  now  find  a  continually  breaking  and  shifting  expanse 
of  drift-ice.  The  evidence  which  even  before  our  expedition 
had  induced  me  to  believe  most  strongly  in  this  theory  is  sup- 
plied by  the  Siberian  drift-wood  that  is  continually  being  car- 
ried to  Greenland,  as  well  as  the  mud  found  on  the  ice,  as  it 


H 


W 


CONCLUSION  711 

could  scarcely  be  of  other  than  Siberian  origin.  We  found  sev- 
eral indications  of  this  kind  during  our  expedition,  even  when 
we  were  as  far  north  as  86'',  furnishing  valuable  indications  as  to 
the  movement  of  the  ice. 

The  force  which  sets  this  ice  in  motion  is  certainly  for  the 
most  part  supplied  by  the  winds ;  and  as  in  the  sea  north  of 
Siberia  the  prevailing  winds  are  southeasterly  or  easterly, 
whereas  north  of  Spitzbergen  they  are  northeasterly,  they  must 
carry  the  ice  in  the  direction  in  which  we  found  the  drift. 
From  the  numerous  observations  I  made  I  established  the  ex- 
istence of  a  slow  current  in  the  water  under  the  ice,  travel- 
ling in  the  same  direction.  But  it  will  be  some  time  before 
the  results  of  these  investigations  can  be  calculated  and 
checked. 

The  hydrographic  observations  made  during  the  expedition 
furnished  some  surprising  data.  Thus,  for  instance,  it  was 
customary  to  look  upon  the  polar  basin  as  being  filled  with 
cold  water,  the  temperature  of  which  stood  somewhere  about 
—  i.5°C.  Consequently  our  observations  showing  that  under 
the  cold  surface  there  was  warmer  water,  sometimes  at  a  tem- 
perature as  high  as  -f  i°  C,  were  surprising.  Again,  this  water 
was  more  briny  than  the  water  of  the  polar  basin  has  been 
assumed  to  be.  This  warmer  and  more  strongly  saline  water 
must  clearly  originate  from  the  warmer  current  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  (the  Gulf  Stream),  flowing  in  a  north  and  northeasterly 
direction  off  Novaya  Zemlya  and  along  the  west  coast  of  Spitz- 
bergen, and  then  diving  under  the  colder,  but  lighter  and  less 
briny,  water  of  the  Polar  Sea,  and  filling  up  the  depths  of  the 
polar  basin.  As  I  have  stated  in  the  course  of  my  narrative, 
this  more  briny  water  was,  as  a  rule,  warmest  at  a  depth  of  from 
200  to  250  fathoms,  beyond  which  it  would  decrease  in  tem- 
perature, though  not  uniformly,  as  the  depth  increased.  Near 
the  bottom  the  temperature  rose  again,  though  only  slightly. 
These  hydrographic  observations  appear  to  modify  to  a  not 
inconsiderable  extent  the  theories  hitherto  entertained  as  to  the 
direction  of  the  currents  in  the  northern  seas ;  but  it  is  a  diffi- 
cult matter  to  deal  with,  as  there  is  a  great  mass  of  material, 


712  APPENDIX 

and  its  further  treatment  will  dennand  both  time  and  patience. 
It  must  therefore  be  left  to  subsequent  scientific  publica- 
tions. 

Still  less  do  I  contemplate  attempting  to  enter  here  into  a 
discussion  on  the  numerous  magnetic,  astronomical,  and  meteo- 
rological observations  taken.  At  the  end  of  this  work  I  merely 
give  a  table  showing  the  mean  temperatures  for  each  month 
during  the  drift  of  the  Frain  and  during  our  sledging  expedi- 
tion. 

On  the  whole,  it  may  probably  be  said  that,  although  the 
expedition  has  left  many  problems  for  the  future  to  solve  in 
connection  with  the  polar  area,  it  has,  nevertheless,  gone  far  to 
lift  the  veil  of  mystery  which  has  hitherto  shrouded  those 
regions,  and  we  have  been  put  in  a  position  to  form  a  tolerably 
clear  and  reasonable  idea  of  a  portion  of  our  globe  that  formerly 
lay  in  darkness,  which  only  the  imagination  could  penetrate. 
And  should  we  in  the  near  future  get  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the 
regions  around  the  Pole  as  seen  from  a  balloon,  all  the  most 
material  features  will  be  familiar  to  us. 

But  there  still  remains  a  great  deal  to  be  investigated,  and 
this  can  only  be  done  by  years  of  observation,  to  which  end  a 
new  drift,  like  that  of  the  Frain,  would  be  invaluable.  Guided 
by  our  experience,  explorers  will  be  in  a  position  to  equip  them- 
selves still  better ;  but  a  more  convenient  method  for  the  scien- 
tific investigation  of  unknown  regions  cannot  easily  be  imagined. 
On  board  a  vessel  of  this  kind  explorers  may  settle  themselves 
quite  as  comfortably  as  in  a  fixed  scientific  station.  They  can 
carry  their  laboratories  with  them,  and  the  most  delicate  experi- 
ments of  all  kinds  can  be  carried  out.  I  hope  that  such  an  ex- 
pedition may  be  undertaken  ere  long,  and  if  it  goes  through 
Bering  Strait  and  thence  northward,  or  perhaps  slightly  to  the 
northeast,  I  shall  be  very  much  surprised  if  observations  are  not 
taken  which  will  prove  of  far  greater  scope  and  importance  than 
those  made  by  us.  But  it  will  require  patience:  the  drift  will 
be  more  protracted  than  ours,  and  the  explorers  must  be  well 
equipped. 

There  is  also  another  lesson  which  I  think  our  expedition  has 


CONCL  US  ION 


713 


taught — namely,  that  a  good  deal  can  be  achieved  with  small 
resources.  Even  if  explorers  have  to  live  in  Eskimo  fashion  and 
content  themselves  with  the  barest  necessaries,  they  may,  pro- 
vided they  are  suitably  equipped,  make  good  headway  and  cover 
considerable  distances  in  regions  which  have  hitherto  been  re- 
garded as  almost  inaccessible. 

Mean  Temperatures  (Fahr.)  for  every  Month  during  the 
Drift  of  the  "  Fram  " 


Months 


January 

February 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 
September 
October  . 
November 
December 


1893 


+  29.1 

—  I.I 

—  1 1.6 

—  20.6 


1894 


32-3 

— 

3--1 

— 

3S-I 

— 

6.1 

+ 

13.8 

+ 

29-3 

+ 

32.4 

+  30.2 

+ 

17.1 

— 

8.S 

— 

234 

— 

30.8 

1895 


-28.1 

-34-2 

—  30.6 

—  19.7 
+  10.2 
+  2S.0 
+  32.5 
+  27.3 
+  14-9 

—  6.2 

—  23.6 
• — ■  27.2 


—  35-3 
-30.5 

—  17 

—  0.6 
+  12.6 
+  28.9 
+  31-8 
+  34-1 


Continuous  Periods  of  Temperature  under  —40° 


Dates 

Years 

January 

February 

March 

November 

December 

1894 
1895 

1896 

(II  to  12 
\  14  to  15 
(  27  to  29 

\   14  to  18 
/  23  to  26 

\  29tto  18 

\  — 

3  to  7 
II  to  19 
23  to  24 

9  to  10 
13  to  16 
18  to  22 

4  to  9 
1 1  to  20 

5  to  15 
17  to  19 

25  to  26 

19  to  23 

26  to  28 

4  to  5 

14  to  15 
20  to  23 

8  to  10 
17  to  18 
30  to  I* 

7  to  8 

*  January 


I  December 


714 


APPENDIX 


The  Mean  Temperature  of  the  Twenty-four  Hours  for  these 

Periods 


Years 

January 

February 

March 

November 

December 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1894 

< 

-  36.8 

-39-1 

—  40.5 

-48.5 
—  43.4 
-38.6 

—  47-9 
-45.8 

—  40.2 

—  42.3 

—  40.7 

—  37-3 
-42.7 

1895 

-41. 1 

—  46.3 

—  41.4 
-43-1 

-39-8 

-37-7 

—  41. 1 

-  39-5 

-42.2 

1896 

S 
i 

-45-8 

—  41. 1 
-43-2 

-35-7 

INDEX 


Accounts,  statements,  I,  56,  57. 
Address  before  Cliristiania  Geographical 

Society,  I,  15. 
Address  to  crew  of  the  Fram,  explaining 

objects  of  sledge  expedition,  II,  8. 
Adelaide's  Island,  II,  344. 
Adverse  opinions  on  proposed  expedition, 

I,  40. 
Aker's  Mechanical  Factory,  engine  of  the 

Fram  built  at,  I,  68. 
Alcyonaria,  I,  298. 
Alden,  \\\&  Fram  passes,  I,  95. 
Alexander's  Island,  II,  378  (Note). 
Alexandra  Land,  II,  510  (Note). 
Algje — 

Ice-water    containing,    I,    290,    503, 

508,  513,  515;  II,  356. 
Snow  colored  by,  II,  356  (Note). 
Almquist's  Islands — 

Fram  passes,  I,  209. 
Position  on  Nordenskjold's  Map,  I, 
189. 
American    expeditions,  sledges  used  on, 

I,  8. 

Ammonites,  II,  553  (Note). 
Amphipoda,  I,  254,  274,  399 ;  II,  685. 
Amundsen,  Anton,  Chief  Engineer  of  the 
Fram,  I,  78. 
Devotion  to  engine,  I,  238. 
Indifference  to  cold,  II,  74. 
Andrea,  visited  on  Danes  Island  by  crew 

of  Fram,  II,  701. 
Archer,  Colin,  builder  of  the  Fram,  I,  57. 
Article     in     Norsk     Tidsskrift    for 

Sovfusen,  I,  59. 
Farewell  salute  to,  I,  83. 
Nansen's    thoughts    of,    on    second 
birthday  of  the  Fram,  I,  570 
Arctic  Rose  Gull.     (See  Ross's  Gull.) 
Arctic  thirst,  immunity  from,   on  sledge 

journey,  II,  150. 
Argillaceous  schist,  Helland's  Foreland, 

II,  371- 


Armitage,  member    of   Jackson  -  Harms- 
worth  expedition,  II,  534. 
Asplenium  (Petruschinense),  II,  563. 
Astronomical  instruments,  I,  73,  74  ;   II, 

Astronomical  observations — 

Hansen  in  charge  of,  I,  243. 
Method  of  conducting,  I,  363. 
Astrup,  immunity  from  scurvy,  I,  586. 
Auks,    II,   255,  282,  305,  356,  358,  372, 
409,  465,  466,  471,  475,  501,  503,  517, 
525,  564,  688. 
Aurora    Borealis,  I,  253,  298,   299,  309, 
312,  314,  315,  320,  416,  419,  550, 
561,  567,  568,  575:.  II-  44- 
Inclination  of  magnetic  needle  prob- 
ably connected  with,  II,  19. 
Streamers  influenced  by  direction  of 
wind,  Nansen's  theory,  I,  306. 
Austria  Sound — 

Payer's  expedition   through,  Nansen 

reading,  II,  75. 
Sledge  expedition   passing    through, 
possibility  of,  I,  584. 
Austro- Hungarian   expedition  (1872-74), 

I,  12. 
Awning  over  deck  of  the  Fram,  I,  549, 
550. 


Bacteria  found  in  ice-water,  I,  514,  515. 
Baden-Powell,  Sir  George,  meets  Nansen 
at  Hammerfest  and  places  his  yacht  at 
his  disposal,  II,  586. 
Balrena,  II,  558. 
Bandaging    lessons,    in    preparation    for 

sledge  expedition,  II,  70. 
Barometers  taken  on  sledge  expedition, 

II,  124. 
Basalt    rocks,    II,    353   (Note),  358,  372, 
378,  379,  493,  501,  503,  553.  559. 
Cape    Flora,     formation     contrasted 
with     that     of     Spitzbergen     and 
Northeast  Land,  II,  553. 
Bathing  alongside  Fram,  I,  441. 


7i6 


INDEX 


Baths— 

F>'ai>i,  I,  405. 
Vadso,  I,  102. 
Bears,   I,    171,   203,  265,  283,  285,  286, 
338,  341,  435,  437.  496,  414.  522, 
572  ;    II,   20,  218,  233,  253.   310, 

335.  345.  355.  370,  37i.  383.  389. 
392,  402,  413,  421,  424,  433,  466, 
472,  476,  478,  490,  541,  638,  675, 
688,  6go,  691. 

Hansen,  Blessing,  and  Johansen  at- 
tacked l)y,  I,  260. 

Johansen's  narrow  escape  from,  II, 

329- 
Bear's-flesh — 

Daily  meal  during  winter  in  hut,  II, 

428. 
Excellence  of,  II,  314. 
Bearskin  bed,  II,  309. 
Bear-trap,  I,  337,  338. 
Beian,  Sverdrup  and   Professor   Brogger 

join  the  Frain  at,  I,  98. 
Bek,  Andreas,  stories  of,  I,  378,  379. 
Belemnites,  II,  553. 
Bentzen,  Bernt,  member  of  expedition,  I, 

80,  lOI. 
Bering  Strait — 

Current  (see  that  title). 
Expedition  taking  route,  I,  12,  13. 
Future  expedition  through,  probable 

value  of,  II,  712. 
Ice-drift,  north  of,  II,  708. 
Bielkoff  Island,  I,  227. 
Bieloi-Ostrov,  I,  153. 

Bird-life,  I,  468  ;   II,  229,  282,  305,  313, 
465, 617,  666  (see  also  names  of  different 
species). 
Bjornsen,  B.,  greeting   on    launching   of 

the  Frani,  II,  25. 
Black-backed  gulls,  II,  356. 
Black  guillemot,  I,  468  ;  II,  232,  617,  634, 

688, 692. 
Blanket-trousers,  II,  479. 
Blessing,  Henrik  Greve,  doctor  and  bot- 
anist to  expedition,  I,  78. 
Bandaging  lessons  to  Dr.  Nansen  and 
Johansen    previous    to    start     on 
sledge  journey,  II,  70. 
Bear  encounter,  I,  260. 
Birthday  celebrations,  I,  255. 
Editor  of  the  Fra7)isjaa,  I,  317. 
Kayak-building,  II,  12. 
Photographs  copied  by,  II,  82. 
Scientific    observations    undertaken 

by,  I,  245. 
Specimen-collecting,  I,  502. 
Blomqvist,  member    of    Jackson-Harms- 
worth  expedition,  II,  534. 
Sails  on  the  Windward,  II,  576. 


Blubber,  excellent  substitute  for  butter, 

11.295. 
Blue-bells,  tundra-plains  of  Asia,  I,  122, 

123. 
Blue  gull,  I,  468. 
Boats — 

Carried  by  the  Fratii,  I,  72. 
Long-boat,  ready  for  emergencies,  II, 
624. 
Boats  and  sledges  combined,  first  use  for 

Arctic  expedition,  I,  9. 
Books — 

Fram  s  library,  I,  73. 

Longing  for,  during  life  in  hut,  11, 

457- 

Boots,  "homager,"  used  on  sledge  jour- 
ney, II,  117,  229,  484. 

Botolfsen,  Captain  of  the  Sostrejie,  II,  701. 

Brandy,  injurious  in  northern  regions : 
Dr.  Nansen's  opinion,  I,  143. 

Braun  Island,  conjecture  as  to  position, 

n,  548. 

Bread  used  on  sledge  journey,  II,  126, 
207,  248. 

Brogger,  Professor,  joins  the  Fram  at 
Beian,  I,  98. 

Brown,  Captain  of  the  IVindward,  II, 
573,  578. 

Bruce,  Dr.,  member  of  Jackson- Harms- 
worth  expedition,  II,  573. 

Bruce  Island,  II,  510  (Note). 

Brlinnich's  guillemot,  II,  281. 

Bruun,  Apothecary,  medicine  supply  con- 
tributed by,  I,  98. 

Bugs  on  board  the  Fram,  I,  233,  266. 

Burgess,  Mr.,  member  of  Jackson-Harms- 
worth  expedition,  II,  534. 
Sails  on  the   Windward,  II,  576. 

Burgomasters,  II,  379,  386,  475. 

Butter  used  on  sledge  journey,  II,  126, 
246. 


Cable,  converted   into   sounding-line,   I, 

464.  465- 
Cape  Barents,  II,  511. 
Cape  Buda-Pesth,  11,  549- 
Cape  Butterless,  I,  202. 
Cape  Chelyuskin,  I,  212,  215. 
Cape  Clements  Markham,  basalt  rock,  II, 

555- 
Cape  Fisher,  II,  501  (Note). 
Cape  Fligely — 

Distance    from     proposed     starting- 
point  of  sledge  journey,  I,  580. 
Speculations  as  to  position  with  re- 
gard to,  II,  256,  268,  272. 
Cape  Flora,  geological  investigations,  II, 
550. 


INDEX 


717 


Cape  Flora,  geological  investigations — 
Nathorst,   Professor,   report    on,    II, 
560. 
Cape  Lapteff,  I,  191  (Note). 
Cape  Lofley,  speculations  as  to  position 

with  regard  to,  II,  391,  458,  489,  490. 
Cape   M'Clintock,  basalt   rocks,  II,  493, 

554- 
Cape  Richthofen,  II,  504  (Note). 

Reached  by  Jackson,  II,  534  (Note). 
Card-playing  on  board  the  Fi-aiit,  I,  364, 

365-  517- 
Carex    oesicaria,    boots    lined    with,    on 

sledge  journey,  II,  117. 
"  Castle  "  Rock,  II,  493. 
Cephalotaxus  Fortunei,  II,  561. 
Chart-room,  used  as  kitchen  in  summer, 

I,  527  (Note). 
Chatanga  River — 

Fram  passes  north  of,  I,  225. 
Land  lying  between  the  Chatanga  and 
the  Anabara,  I,  225,  226. 
Child,  Mr.,  member  of  Jackson- Harms- 
worth  expedition,  II,  534. 
Sails  on  the  Windivard,  II,  576. 
Christiania    F'jord,  the   Fram    enters,  on 

return  from  expedition,  II,  595. 
Christiania    Geographical    Society,    Nan- 
sen's  address  before,  idea  of  expedition 
first  propounded  in,  I,  14,  15. 
Christmas  festivities,  I,  343,  344;   II,  31, 

33.  34,  44S. 
Christofersen,  secretary  to  Nansen,  I,  104. 
Leaves  the  Fram  at   Khabarova,  I, 

132,  133,  144. 
Meets  Nansen  at  Hammerfest  on  re- 
turn of  expedition,  II,  588. 
Cladophlebis,  II,  562. 
Clay  sandstone.  Cape  Flora,  II,  553. 
Clements    Markham's    Foreland,  II,  363 

(Note). 
Cleve,  Professor,  diatoms  found    in    ice- 
floes off  Greenland  Coast,  examined  by, 

I.  39- 
Clio  Borealis,  II,  283. 
Clothing,  I,  392,  393,  413,  415. 

Deplorable  condition  during  life  in 

hut,  II,  434. 
Drying   clothes  on   sledge    journey, 

n,  145. 

Equipment   for  sledge  journey,    II, 

14,  114,  115. 
Equipment  for   southward   journey, 
II,  474,  484. 
Cloudberry  flower,  tundra-plains  of  Asia, 

I,  123. 
Cloudberry,  "Polar  champagne   83d  de- 
gree," II,  33- 
Coal  found  in  clay,  Cape  Flora,  II,  553. 


Coal-oil   apparatus  for   range-heating,  I, 

526,  547- 
Coal  supply  for  the  Fram,  I,  76,  77,  548  ; 

II,  650. 
Cod,  Polar,  II,  258. 

Cold  in  Arctic  regions,  reports  exagger- 
ated, I,  392,  393. 
Committee  of  expedition,  I,  56. 
Compasses   taken  on    sledge    expedition, 

II,  124. 
Cooking  arrangements — 

Fram,  I,  526,  527,  547. 
Hut,  II,  428. 

Sledge  journey,  II,  15,  120. 
Southward    jeurney  after  winter    in 
the  hut,  II,  4S3. 
Cook's  expedition  (1776)  through    Bering 

Strait,  I,  12. 
Coral  insects,  I,  298. 
Crew  of  the  Fram,  I,  77. 

Courage    and    cheerfulness,    I,   361, 

365,  450,  545.  546. 
Faith  in  their  leader,  I,  535. 
Health  of,  I,  244,  245,  354,  355,  356, 

362,  390,  407  ;   II,  627. 
Meeting  with   Nansen  and  Johansen 

on  return  of  expedition,  II,  706. 
Nansen's  address  to,  explaining  ob- 
jects of  sledge  journey  northward, 
II,  8. 
News  of  safe  arrival  of  Nansen  and 

Johansen,  II,  704,  705. 
Occupations   during  winter,    I,  238, 

427. 
Return    to    Norway  —  meeting  with 
Nansen  at  Tromso,  II,  593. 
Crown-Prince  Rudolf's  Land — 
Discovery  by  Payer,  I,  12. 
Sighted  by  Nansen,  II,  321,  357. 
Speculations  as  to  position  with  re- 
gard to,  II,  349,  459. 
Crustaceae,  I,  298,  399  ;  II,  283. 
Current    from    Bering    Sea    to    Atlantic 
Ocean,   Nansen's  theory  as  to,    I,  16, 
368,  443. 
Current,    Nansen's    theory,    existence    of 

slow  current  established,  II,  711. 
Currents,   Hydrographic    observation,  re- 
sults, II,  711. 
Czekanowskia,  H,  562. 

D 

Daily  life  in  hut,  II,  435,  456,  457. 

Daily  life  on  Fram  during  drift,  I,  246. 

Danes  Island,  Andree  expedition  station- 
ed on,  visited  by  the  Ffam,  II,  701. 

Danish  expedition  (Hovgaard's),  i,  12. 

De  Long,  Letter  to  Gordon  Bennett,  I, 
13- 


7i8 


INDEX 


Denmark  Strait,  drift-ice  of  Siberian  ori- 
gin, I,  23. 
Depot  of  reserve  food  during  life  in  hut, 

II,  429,  482. 
Depots  on   ice  near  tlie  Frain,  II,    602, 
606,  623,  624,  667. 
Things  taken  on  board,  II,  641,  678, 
681. 
Depots   on    New  Siberian    Islands  estab- 
lished by  Baron  Von  Toll,  I,  75,  76. 
Diatoms — 

Ice-water,    containing,    I,    290,    503, 

508,  509,  513,  514,  515. 
Identical  species  found  in  ice-floes  off 
the    east  coast  of    Greenland    and 
off  Bering  Strait,  I,  38,  39. 
Dick,  A.,  contributions  to  expedition,  I, 

55.  56,  57- 

Dickson,  Baron   Oscar,  electric    installa- 
tion for  expedition,  provided  by,  I,  55. 

Dickson's  Island,  intention  to  deposit  let- 
ters on,  abandoned,  I,  157. 

Dogs — 

Arrangements  for  sledge  expedition, 

I,  446,  581,  585  ;  II,  109. 

Close  confinement   on  the  Fraiii,  I, 

254,  255- 

Drives  with,  I,  126,  287,  288,  391, 
392,  395,  543  ;  II,  82,  no,  151. 

Food,  I,  loi,  581,  582  ;  II,  105,  106, 
109,  325. 

Harness,  I,  128  ;   II,  16,  102. 

Kennels,  I,  537  ;  II,  657,  658. 

Killed  by  bears,  I,  327,  328. 

Killed  by  their  fellows,  I,  271,  301, 
310. 

Killed  on  sledge  journey,  II,  143, 
162,  175,  180,  190,  191,  192,  197, 
201,  207,  210,  227,  234,  241,  244, 
259,  271,  274,  275,  306,  336. 

lAsi  of  dogs  taken  on  sledge  jour- 
ney, II,  131. 

Number  insufficient,  II,  163,  167. 

Number  left  on  the  Fram  when  Nan- 
sen  started  on   sledge   expedition, 

II,  656. 

Paralysis  in  legs,  II,  313. 
Pemmican-bags  attacked  by,  II,  195. 
Puppies,  I,  332,  333,  406,  483,  537  ; 
II,  656,  657,  6S2. 

Accidents  to,  I,  564,  574  ;  II,  6. 
Convulsive  attacks,  I,  420,  421, 

422,  475,  476  ;  II,  556. 
Paralysis,  I,  479. 
Run  on  ice,  I,  475. 
Training,  I,  545. 
Removal  to  safe  quarters  on  occasion 

of  great  ice-pressure,  II,  48,  57. 
Return  of  missing  dog,  I,  334,  335. 


Dogs- 
Scent,  keenness  of,  I,  417. 
Sufferings    on    sledge    journey,    II, 

148,  192. 
Summer  quarters,  I,  479,  480. 
Temper  of  dogs  brought  to  ship  and 

of  dogs  born  on  board,  difference 

between,  II,  661. 
Trontheim — 

Account  of  journey  with  dogs,  I, 

133,  134- 
Delivers  dogs  to  Dr.  Nansen,  I, 

114,  117-' 
Use  of  dogs  on  previous  expeditions, 

1,7,8. 
Von  Toll,  Baron,  provides   dogs   for 
expedition,  I,  75. 
Dolgoi,  unknown  islands  descried  near,  I, 

III. 
Dove  Glacier,  conjecture   as   to   position 

of,  II,  548. 
Drift  of  the  Frani — 

Chart  made  by  Hansen,  I,  539. 
Conclusions  arrived  at  from  scientific 

observations,  II,  708. 
Latitude    and   longitude,  statements 
indicating  general  course  of  drift, 

I,  445  ;  II,  644,  663. 
Measuring,  II,  614. 

Northward  drift,  I,  292,  305,  308, 
311,  312,  320,  369,  370,  386,  387, 
393,  402,  403,  414,  420,  440,  442, 
444,  445.  446,  523,  557,  564  ;  H, 
24,  31,  33,  61,  64,  loi,  613,  614, 
662,  663. 

Open  water,  the  Fram  emerges  into, 

II,  700. 

Second  year's  drift  (northward)  near- 
ly south  of  that  of  first,  11,  663. 

Southward  drift,  I,  269,  291,  302, 
309,  366,  387,  402,  404,  406,  407, 
413,422,  424,  445,  513,  531,  537; 
II,  21,  76,  82. 

Sverdrup's  account  of  drift  after 
Nansen's  departure,  II,  6or. 

Temperature  for  every  month  during, 

n,  714- 

Thickness    of    ice    under   the   Fram 

during  drift,  I,  45^. 
Winds,  strength  influencing,  II,  711. 
Drift  oi  Jeannette,  I,  13,  17,  540. 
Drift-ice,  continuous  motion  of,  II,  708. 
Denmark  Strait,  Siberian  origin,  1,23. 
Greenland,  Siberian  origin,  I,  38,  39. 
Drift,  sledge  journey  (Nansen  and  Johan- 

sen),  II,  26S,  272. 
Drift-wood,  II,  666,  708. 

Nansen's  current  theory  supported 
by,  I,  20,  21. 


IXDEX 


719 


Drowning,  Nansen's  narrow  escape  from, 

in  recovering  kayak,  II,  513. 
Drying  clothes  on  sledge  journey,  II,  116, 

145- 
Dust  collected  on  ice-surface,  microscopic 

examination  of,  I,  503,  504. 
Dutch  Cape,  II,  702. 
Dutch,  early  Arctic  explorers,  I,  6. 


Easter-day  festivities,  II,  175. 
Echinus,  Torup's  Island,  II,  355. 
Eclipse  of  the  sun,  I,  431,  432. 
Egeberg,  Consul  Westye,  contributions  to 

expedition,  I,  55. 
Egg-hunting,  II,  565. 
Eider  ducks,  I,  227  ;   II,  503. 
Eightieth  degree,  festivities  on  passing,  I, 

.387,  38S. 
Eighty-second  degree,  festivities,  I,  565. 
Eighty-three  degrees  thirty-four  minutes, 

festivities,  II,  60. 
Eighty-six  degrees  ten  minutes,  festivities, 

II,  170. 
Ekersund,  the  Fratn  puts  in  at,  I,  88. 
Electric  light  installation,  I,  71. 
Packed  away,  II,  651. 
Setting  up  for  winter,  I,  241. 
Successful  working,  I,  293. 
Elida    precedes    the   Fram    u]5    fjord   on 

return  to  Christiania,  II,  596. 
Engine  of  the /Vvzw,  I,  68,  69. 

Amundsen's  devotion  to,  I,  238. 
Preparing  for  work   after  drift,    II, 

684. 
Repaired  at  Khabarova,  I,  121. 
Trial,  as  compound  engine,  II,  693. 
Water,  accumulation  in  engine-room, 
II,  627,  664. 
English,  early  Arctic  explorers,  I,  6. 
English   North   Pole   Expedition,   scurvy 

attack,  I,  585,  586. 
Equipment — 

Fram,  I,  57. 

Sledge  expedition  (Nansen  and  Jo- 
hansen),    II,    112,    285,    314,   317, 
481. 
Eva's  Island,  II,  344  (Note). 


Farewell  to  home,  I,  81. 

Farewell  to  Norway,  I,  104. 

P'arewell    to    the    Frain    on    starting    on 

sledge  expedition,  II,  132. 
Farsund,  I,  88. 

Fearnley,  Thomas,  member  of  committee 
of  expedition,  I,  55,  56. 
Contribution  to  expedition,  i,  55. 
Feildenia,  II,  561. 


Ferns,  fossil.  Cape  Flora,  II,  562. 
Fire — 

Petroleum  launch  on  fire,  I,  147. 
Precautions  against,  I,  535,  536. 
Tent  on  fire,  II,  296. 
Finn  shoes  worn  on  sledge  journey,  II, 
116. 
"Komager"    boots  substituted    for, 

II,  229. 
Mending,  II,  195. 
Finsko,  sennegraes  in,  II,  117. 
Fish-Hour,   Yage's,  used  on  sledge   jour- 
ney, II,  125. 
Fisher,  H.,  member  of  Jackson- Harms- 
worth  Expedition,  II,  534,  576. 
Returns  on  Wind'ward,  II,  577. 
Fisher- folks'    interest    in    expedition,    I, 

96,  97. 
Fishing  between  ice-cracks,  I,  274. 
"  Fiskegratin "  suppers   on  sledge  jour- 
ney, II,  145. 
Flagellata,  I,  515. 
Flora — 

Franz  Josef  Land,  II,  558. 
Greenland    flora,  Siberian   vegetable 

forms  contained  in,  I,  23. 
Tundra-plains  of  Asia,  I,  122. 
Flour,  steamed,  used  on  sledge  journey, 

II,  126. 
Food — 

Depots  on  New  Siberian  Islands,  es- 
tablished by  Baron  von  Toll,  I,  75, 
,76. 
Fram  equipment,  I,  72,  73,  246,  367. 
Menus  (see  that  title). 
Sledge  journey,  I,  581, 582  ;  II.  124, 

145.  147-  149- 
Daily  meals  during  life  in  hut, 

II,  428,  429. 
Depot  of  reserve  food  near  hut, 

II,  429,  482. 
Drying  food,  II,  302. 
Meat  and  fat  diet,  no  injurious 

effects  felt  from,  II,  314. 
Monotony  of  diet  during  life  in 

hut,  II,  461. 
Rations,  II,  157,  243,  246,  248, 

282,  283. 
Southward  journey  after  winter 
in  hut,  food  for,  II,  4S2,  509. 
Foot-gear,  sledge  expedition,  II,  116. 
Forge,  II,  605,  665. 
Forget-me-nots,  tundra- plains  of   Asia, 

I,  122. 
Fortiiu,  Greely's  article  on   proposed  ex- 
pedition, I,  48. 
Fossils,  Cape  Flora,  II,  550,  555,  558. 
Nathorst,   Professor,   report   on,  II, 
560. 


720 


INDEX 


Foxes,  I,    197,  297,  335  ;    II,   189,   igo, 

192,  429,  442,  475. 
Fram — 

Awning    stretched   over,   for    second 

winter,  I,  549. 
Birthday  celebrations,  I,  294,  569. 
Change   of    quarters    after   Nansen's 

departure,  II,  606. 
Construction   and   equipment,  I,  29, 

30,  61. 
Cost  of,  I,  55. 
Crew  (see  that  title). 
Drift  (see  that  title). 
Frozen  into  the  ice  (September  23d), 

I,  233. 
Ice-pressure,    excellent    behavior   of 
ship    during,  I,   no;    II,   47, 
60,  69. 
Blasting   the  Fram  loose  from, 
II,  642,  686  (see  also  Ice-press- 
ure). 
Leakage,  II,  643,  664. 
Library,  I,  73. 
Lightening,  II,  651. 
Nansen's  farewell  to,  on  starting  on 

sledge  journey,  II,  132. 
Photograph  taken  by  moonlight,  II, 

69. 
Safe  return  to  Norway,  II,  589,  590. 
Sailing  of  the  Fram,  Anniversaries, 

I,  501  ;   II,  299. 
Skjsevo,  the  Fram   anchored  at,  II, 

703- 
Spring-cleaning    on    board,    I,  440, 

441  ;  II,  624. 
Sverdrup's  account   of  voyage  after 

Nansen's  departure,  II,  601. 
Thickness    of    ice    under  the    Fram 

during  drift,  I,  459. 
Tromso  Harbor  entered  on  return  of 

expedition,  II,  706. 
Trontheim's    account    of    ship    and 

crew,  I,  141. 
Warmth    and    coziness    of,   I,    305, 

490. 
Warping  ahead  through  ice-floes,  II, 

693- 
Winter  on  board,  I,  237,  246. 
Framsjaa,  newspaper,  I,  317,  344,  357. 
Franklin  expeditions,  Nansen  reading,  II, 

23- 
Franz  Josef  Land- 
Expeditions  to,  I,  12. 
Extent    of    archipelago,  speculation 

as  to,  II,  557. 
Fram,  half-way  between  New  Siberi- 
an Islands  and  Franz  Josef  Land, 

L  567. 
Fram  reaching  point  north  of,  specu- 


lation as  to  possibility  of,  I,   531, 
540,  579. 
Geological    investigations,    II,    550, 

560. 
Map,  Nansen's,  II,  547,  548. 
Position    with    regard    to,    Nansen's 
conjectures,  I,  414  ;   II,  272,  343, 
349.  458,  509,  511,  519.  528. 
West  coast  reached  by  Nansen  and 

Johansen,  II,  355,  360. 
Wintering  on,  II,  391. 
"  Frederick  Jackson  Island,"  name  given 
to  land  on  which  Nansen  and  Johansen 
wintered,  II,  550. 
Freeden  Island,  II,  344  (Note),  548. 
Fucup,  Torup's  Island,  II,  355. 
Fuel,  petroleum,  used  for  sledge  expedi- 
tion, II,  121. 
Fulmars,  I,  468  ;  II,  229,  281,  313,  340, 

408,  475,  502,  617,  634,  688. 
Future  expedition,  Nansen  on  possibili- 
ties of,  II,  712. 

G 
Gadus  Polaris,  II,  258. 
Geelmuyden  Island,  II,  378. 
Geelmuyden,  Professor,  supervision  of  as- 
tronomical instruments  for  expedition 
undertaken  by,  I,  74. 
Geese,  I,  159,  160  ;  II,  393,  500,  503. 
Geographical  Society,  London — 

Contributions   to    expedition,    I,    55, 

56. 
Nansen's  lecture  before,  I,  32  (Note), 
40,  541- 
Geographical  Society,    Norwegian,    con- 
tributions to  expedition,  I,  56. 
Gillis  Land — 

Proposed  sledge  expedition,  I,  583. 
Speculation   as   to  position  with  re- 
gard to,  II,  459,  488,  489. 
Gingkos,  II,  561,  562. 
Glacier,  rumblings  in,  II,  454  and  Note. 
Glaucus  gulls,  II,  356,  408. 
Gloves  used  on  sledge  journey,  II,  118. 
Golden  plovers,  I,  152. 
Goose  Island,  II,  500,  554. 
Goose  Land,  Novaya  Zemlya,  failure  to 

land  at,  I,  105. 
Greely  expedition  (1881-84),  highest  lati- 
tude reached  previous  to  Nansen's  ex- 
pedition, I,  10. 
Greely,    General,    articles    on    Nansen's 

proposed  expedition,  I,  48,  51. 
Greenland — 

Drifts   on    coast,  conclusions   drawn 

from,  II,  708. 
Flora,  Siberian  vegetable  forms  in- 
cluded in,  I,  23. 


INDEX 


721 


Greenland — 

Sea    route  between    Greenland   and 
Spitzbergen,  I,  11. 
Greenland  shark,  II,  637. 
Greenland  whale,   II,  5 58. 
Guillemots,    I,   230,   468;    II,    232,   2S1, 

471,  634,  692. 
Gulf    Stream,  temperature   of   Polar   Sea 

affected  bv,   II,   71 1. 
Gulls,    I,   468,    471;    II,    238,    255,    400, 
40S,  634. 
Glaucus,  II,  356,  408. 
Ivory,    II,   237,   244,   248,   266,  303, 
313,  326,  340,  350,  379,  386,  476. 
Ross's,   I,   471  ;    II,   313,  315.   324. 

325.  340. 
Silver,  II,  273. 
Guns  taken  on  sledge  expedition,  II,  123, 
486. 

H 

Haalogoland,  II,  593. 

Hagensen,  Johan,  pilot  of  Frani  from 
Bergen  to  Vardo,  I,  88. 

Hagerup,  Secretary,  Nansen's  telegram 
to.  on  return  of  expedition,  II,  583. 

Hammerfest,  Nansen  and  Johansen  ar- 
rive at,  II,  586. 

Hansen,  S.  S. ,  member  of  expedition,  I, 

78. 
Bear  encounter,  I,  260,  286. 
Chart  of  drift,  I,  539. 
Christmas  presents,  I,  344. 
Frozen  toes,  II,  605. 
Hut,  building,  II,  665. 
Kayak  adventure,  I,  517. 
Map  of  route,  II,  82. 
Meteorological  observations  conduct- 
ed by,  I,  243. 
Snow-hut  for  observations  built  by, 

II,  16. 
Tabular    form    for    observations    on 
sledge    expeditions,   prepared   by, 
II.  16. 
Harelda  Glacialis,  I,  121. 
Harold  Hardrade,  Arctic  vovage  recorded 

of.  1,  4. 
Harp  seals.  II,  369. 

Harper  s  Weekly,  Greely's  article  on  ex- 
pedition, I,  51. 
Hats,  felt, worn  on  sledge  journey,  II,  118. 
Hauling  harness,  II,  275. 
Hawk  island,  I,  147. 

Hayward,   member    of    Jackson  -  Harms- 
worth  expedition,  II,  541. 
Head  covering,  worn  on  sledge  journey, 

II,  118. 
Head  shaving  on  board  the  Fraiii,  11,628. 
Health  of  crew  (see  title  Crew). 

II.— 46 


Heiberg,  Axel,  contributions   to   expedi- 
tion, I,  55,  56. 
Helland's  P'oreland,  11,366,371. 
Henriksen,  Peter  Leonard,  member  of  ex- 
pedition, I,  79. 
Bet  with  Juell  as  to  thickness  of  ice 

under  the  Frain,  I,  459. 
Expedition  up  Yugor  Strait,  I,  iiS, 

121. 
Spitzbergen  stories,  I,  378. 
Wish  to  join  Nansen  on  sledge  jour- 
ney, II,  136. 
Herlo  Fjord,  I,  92. 
Herring  gull,  I,  468. 
Hestemanden.  I,  98. 

Hoffmann    Island,  speculation   as  to  po- 
sition, II,  548. 
HoUtEndernseset,  II,  702. 
Homeward  march  begun,  sledge  journey, 

II,  170. 
Homeward  voyage  on  the  Wiiidicard,  II, 

577- 
Hoods  worn  on  sledge  journey,  II,  118. 
Hooker  Island,  II,  509,  528. 
Hooker,  Sir  Joseph,  adverse   opinion  on 

proposed  expedition,  I,  47. 
Houen,  Anton,  contribution  to  expedition, 

I,  55; 

Houen's  Island,  II,  353. 
Hovgaard  expedition,  I,  12. 
Hovland,  pilot  from   Christiania  to  Ber- 
gen, I,  88. 
Hudson,    Henry,    expedition    (1607)    by 
sea-route  between  Greenland  and  Spitz- 
bergen, I,  II. 
Hummerdus,  I,  88. 
Hummocks,  highest  climbed,  II,  218. 
Hut   for   scientific  observations,  II,  664, 

665. 
Hut,  Jackson's,  II,  536. 
Hut,  wintering  in — 

Building  hut,  II,  390,  393,  410,  412, 

419,  427. 
Cooking  arrangements,  II,  42S,  436. 
Daily  life,  II,  434,  456,  457,  464. 
Departure  on  southward  journev,  II, 

487. 
Depot  of  reserve  food,  II,  429,  482. 
"  Frederick  Jackson's  Island,"  name 
given   to   land  on   which  hut   was 
built,  II,  550. 
Report  left  in  hut.  II,  487. 
Sleeping-shelf,  II,  427. 
Speculations  as  to  position,  II,  458. 
Temperature  in  hut,  II,  435. 
Hvidtenland,  II,  344  (Note),  458,  548. 
Hydrographic  equipment  for  expedition, 

I,  74. 

Hydrographic  observations,  result  s,  1 1, 71 1. 


722 


INDEX 


Ice — 

First  meeting  with,  I,  io6. 
Hummock,  highest  climbed,  II,  2i8. 
Impracticability   for   sledge   expedi- 
tion,   Nansen's    consideration    on 
possibility  of,  I,  584. 
Lanes  in,  I,  455;   II,  183,  212,  215, 

220,  230. 
Organisms  contained  in,  I,  290,  502, 

503,  514,  515- 
Rate  of  formation,  I,  304,  398,  457. 
Roughness    of    surface    during    late 

spring  weather,  I,  449. 
Rubble-ice,  II,  168. 
Sea -ice    only    encountered,    except 

under  land,  II,  184  (Note). 
Shore-ice,  II,  242. 
Siberia,  ice-drift  from,  II,   140,  190, 

708. 
Stratified  formation,  I,  401. 
Temperature,  I,  463. 
Thickness   of   ice   under   the    Fram 

during  drift,  I,  459. 
Thirst  quenched  by  sucking  ice,  II, 

151  (Note). 
Water  for  cooking,  better  than  snow, 

II,  228  (Note). 
White  reflection  from,  I,  148. 
Winds  strongly  influencing  ice-drift, 
II,  711. 
Icebergs,  II,  344,  350. 
Ice-blasting,  I,   343;    II,   642,   652,   667, 

686. 
Ice-foot,  II,  518  (Note). 
Ice-gull,  II,  617. 
Ice-mews,  I,  468. 

Ice-pressure,  I,  271,  272,  277,  279,  292, 
304,  307,  308,  313,  352,  369,  381, 
397,  398,  408  ;  II,  28,  37,  38,  39, 
42,  65,  66,  602,  610,  613,  638,  652, 
662,  669,  693. 
Blasting,  II,  642,  652. 
Fram  freed  from,  II,  700. 
Preparations  for  abandonment  of  the 
Fram   on   occasion   of   severe   ice- 
pressure,  II,  47. 
Removal  of  high  pressure-ridge,  II, 
605. 
Infusoria  found  in  ice- water,  I,  515. 
Inglefield.  Sir  E.,  favorable  view  of  pro- 
posed expedition,  I,  45. 
Instruments  for  scientific  observations — 
Fram  equipment,  I,  72. 
Sledge  expedition,  II,  124. 
lovenskiold,   C.,  contribution   to   expedi- 
tion, I,  55. 
Ivory  gulls,  II,  237,  244,  248,  266,  303, 
313,  326,  341,  350,  379,  386,  475. 


J 

Jackson,  F. — 

Aid  given  to  Nansen  in  preparation 

of  maps  and  plans,  II,  547. 
Cape     Richthofen,    most     northerly 

point  reached  bv,  II,  504. 
Hut,  II,  536. 

Nansen  meeting  with,  II,  522. 
Jackson's  map — 

"King  Oscar   Land,"  error  in  posi- 
tion on,  II,  379  (Note). 
Used    by   Nansen    in    preparing   his 
sketch-map  of  Franz  Josef  Land, 
II,  548. 
Jackson- Harmsworth  expedition,  I,  12. 

Nansen's  meeting  with,  II,  522. 
Jacobsen,   T.   C,  mate  of  the  Fi-ain,  I, 

Reindeer  stalking,  I,  160. 

Sledge  building  for  northward  expe- 
dition, II,  73. 
Jarlsberg,  Baron  Harald  Wedel,  contribu- 
tion to  expedition,  I.  55. 
Jeanuette  expedition  (1879-81) — • 

Drift,  I,  12,  13,  16,  17,  540. 

Frames  drift  compared  with,  I,  540. 

Ice-vi'ater,  distilling  before  drinking, 
unnecessary  trouble,  II.  228. 

Scurvy,  immunity  from,  I,  586. 
Johansen,  F.  H.,  member  of  expedition, 

I,  79, 
Bandaging  lessons  in  preparation  for 

sledge  journey,  II,  70 
Bear  attack,  narrow  escape,  II,  329. 
Birthday  feast,  II,  210. 
Chosen   as   Nansen's    companion   on 

sledge  journey,  II,  2,  7. 
Kayak  building,  II,  12. 
Meteorological  observations,  I,  243, 

363- 
Journals — 

Difficulty   of   writing    during   life  in 

hut,  TI,  436. 
Duplicate    carried     by    Nansen    on 
sledge  expedition,  II,  16. 
Juell,  A.,  steward  and  cook  of  the  Fram, 
I,  78.  79- 
Bet  with  Peter  as  to  thickness  of  ice 

under  the  Fram,  I,  459. 
Dog-tailor,  II,  16. 
Julianehaab,    drift    from    wreck    of    the 
Jcaiinelte  discovered  near,  I,  17. 

K 

Kamenni  Islands,  I,  158. 
Kane's   expedition,    inadequate    prepara- 
tions, I.  353. 
Kara  River,  I,  149. 


INDEX 


723 


Kara  Sea — 

Fram  sails  into,  I,  147,  148. 
View  of,  from  Siberian  coast,  I,  124. 
Karl  Alexander  Land,  II,  550. 
Kayaks — 

ISags  stuffed  with  penimican  placed 

under,  II,  82,  86. 
Building,  I,  510,  515,  516,  523,  525  ; 

II,  12,  13,  112,  648. 
Crossing  ice-lanes,  1 1, 1 39  (Note),  329. 
Drifting,  Nansen  nearly  drowned  in 

recovering,  II,  512. 
Food,  arrangement  in,  II,  157. 
Hansen's  adventure  in.  1.  517. 
Preparing  for   sledge    journey   after 

winter  in  hut,  II,  483. 
Rate  of  progress,  II,  346. 
Repairing,    II,    194,    239,   241,   246, 

247,  248,  306,  314,  483. 
Sledges    to    be    abandoned    for,    II, 
282,336. 
Kelch,  iSikolai,  contribution    to    expedi- 
tion, I,  75. 
Khabarova — 

Churches,  I,  1 15. 

Festival  of  St.  Elias,  I,  128. 

Fram  puts  in  at,  I,  112. 

Russian  traders,  I,  140. 

Trontheim's  meeting  with   Nansen, 

I,  113- 

King  Halfdaii  tows  the  Fram  into  Trom- 

s6  harbor,  II,  706. 
King  of  Norway — 

Contribution  to  expedition,  I,  54. 

Medal    presented    to    Trontheim,  I, 
144. 
King  Oscar's  Bay,  I,  218. 
King  Oscar's  Land — 

Extent  probably  not  great,  II,  556. 

Jackson's   Map,  error  as  to  position, 

II,  379  (Note). 

Speculation   as  to   position  with  re- 
gard to,  II,  459. 
Kinn,  I,  95. 
Kitchen,  chart-room  used  as,  in  summer, 

1.527- 

Kittiwakes,   I,  468  ;    II,    341,  408,    503, 
617,  692. 

Kjellman's  Island — 

Fram  anchors  at,  I,  160. 
Unknown  lands  near,  I,  159. 

Kjollefjord,  the  Fram  puts  in  at,  I,  102. 

Kjosterad,  A.  S.,  contribution  to  expedi- 
tion, I,  55. 

Knipa  Sound,  I,  184. 

Knudtzon,  Consul  N.  H.,  contribution  to 
expedition,  I,  55. 

Koetlitz,  Dr.,  member  of  Jackson- Harms- 
worth  expedition,  II,  534,  550. 


Koldewey  expedition  (1869-70),  I,  11. 
"  Komager  "  boots  worn  on  sledge  jour- 
ney, II,  117,  229,  485. 
Repairing,  II,  485. 
Kongespeilet,  polar   ice   described   in,   I, 

5- 
Kopepodas,  I,  274. 
Kotelnoi,  I,  228. 
Kryloff,  account  of  Trontheim's  journey 

with  dogs,  written  by,  1,  134. 
Kvaenangan  Fjord,  II,  703. 
Kvarvan,  I,  gi. 


Laminaria,  II,  30S. 
Lamps — 

Fire  caused  by  explosion,  II,  296. 
"  Primus,"  cooking  with,  on   sledge 

expedition,  II,  121. 
Train-oil,  II,  353,  426.  436. 
Land — 

Fraiii's  first  sight   of,  on   homeward 

voyage,  II,  701. 
Sledge   journey,  Nansen's  first  sight 
of.  II,  319. 
Lanes  in  ice,  kayaks  or  sledges  crossing, 

II,  329- 
Langoia,  unknown  islands  descried  near, 

I,  III. 
Lapteft',  I,  209. 

Larus  argentatus,  II,  238,  266,  273. 
Larus  eburneus,  I,  468  ;  II,  303,  475. 
Larus  glaucus,  II,  475. 
Larus  tridactylus,  II,  617. 
Latitude  and  longitude  ;  statements  show- 
ing drift  of  the  Fram,  I,  445  ;   II,  643, 

663. 
Leigh-Smith — 

Franz  Josef  Land  visited  by,  I,  12. 
Nansen's  speculations  as  to  position 
with  regard  to  Leigh-Smith's  quar- 
ters, II,  369,  519. 
Length  of  voyage,  speculations  as  to,  I, 

521,  539,  540. 
Lestris  parasiticus,  I,  159,  46S  ;   II,  666. 
Library  on  board  the  Fram,  I,  73. 
leister  Fjord,  the  Fram  puts  in  at,  I,  88. 
Little   auks,  II,  255,  282,  305,  355,  358, 

372,  410,  465,  466,  471,  476,  503,  617, 

634,  688,  692. 
Liv's  birthday,  II,  66,  455. 
"  Liv's  Island,"  II,  344  (Note). 
Lobscouse  supjiers,  II,  144. 
Lockwood,  highest  latitude   reached    by, 

previous  to  Nansen  expedition,  I,  10. 
Lofoten,  I,  loi. 

Log-line  for  measuring  drift,  II,  614. 
Long-boat,  preparing  for  emergencies,  II, 

624,  651. 


724 


INDEX 


Long-tailed  ducks,  I,  122,  152. 
"  Longing  Camp,"  II,  314. 
Farewell  to,  II,  315. 
Iceberg  or  land  sighted  from,  II,  307, 
318. 
Loon,  Yalmal,  I,  149. 
"  Lovunden  "  hummock,  II,  609. 
Lovunen,  I,  loi. 

Lumbago,  sufferings  from,  II,  322,  324. 
Lytzen,  Mr.,  discovery  at  Julianehaab  of 
drift  from  the y^rtww^/'/t',  I,  17,  18. 

M 
Mack,  Advocate,  contribution  to  expedi- 
tion, I,  lOI. 
M'Clintock  expedition — 

Arrangement,  good,  II,  23. 
Scurvy,  immunity  from,  I,  586. 
Sledge  journey,  I,  8. 
M'Clintock,  Sir  Leopold,  adverse  opinion 

of  proposed  expedition,  I,  41. 
Magero,  I,  102. 

Magnetic    constant,    Hansen's    observa- 
tions, I,  243. 
Magnetic  equipment  carried  by  the  Fram, 

I,  73-  74- 
Supervised  by  Neumeyer,  I,  74. 
Magnetic  needle,  singular  inclination  of, 

II,  19. 
Mangerland,  I,  92. 
Markham,  Albert — 

High  latitude  reached  by,  I,  10. 
Sledge  journeys,  I,  8,  9,  585. 
Markham  Sound,  speculation  as  to  posi- 
tion with  regard  to,  II,  509. 
Mary  Elizabeth  Island,  II,  500  (Note). 
Matches,     precautions     against     fire,    I, 

536. 
May   17th,  celebrations,  I,  4S3  ;  II,  218, 

628,  683. 
Meat — 

Fresh,    remarkable    preservation,    I, 

496. 
Preparations    taken   on   sledge  jour- 
ney, II,  124. 
Meat-chocolate,  afternoon  refreshment  on 

sledge  journey,  II,  150. 
Medicine  chest,  I,  98. 

Sledge  journey  equipment,  II,   126. 
Store    in    long-boat,    contents    unin- 
jured, II,  649. 
Medusae,  I,  298. 
Members  of  expedition  (see  Crew  of  the 

Fi'am). 
Menus,  feast-days,  I,  256,  348,  349,  360, 
388,  483,  486,  552,  565,  566  ;    II,   24, 
33,  170,  176,  210,  218,  320,  449. 
Menus,  ordinary  days,  I.  391. 
Mergulus  alle,  II,  255.  465. 


Meteorological  observations — • 
Huts  built  for,  II,  16,  664. 
Instruments  carried  by  Fra»i,  I,  73. 

74- 
Instruments  carried  on  sledge  jour- 
ney, II,  123. 
Method  of  conducting,  I,  243,  363. 
Microscopical  research,  Nansen's  absorp- 
tion in,  I,  513,  514,  515,  575. 
Midsummer-eve,  I,  495,  498  ;   II,  299. 
Mittens  used  on  sledge  journey,  II,  118. 
Mogstad,  Otto  Irgens,  member  of  expedi- 
tion, I,  80. 
Kayak  and  sledge-building,    II,    12, 

65-  73- 
Mohn,  Professor — 

Lecture  on  drift  from  the  feanuette, 

I,  18. 
Meteorological  instruments  for  expe- 
dition supervised  by,  I,  74. 
Nansen's  expedition  and  theories  ap- 
proved of,  I,  40. 
Nansen's  meeting  with,  on  return,  II, 
583. 
Moltke  Moe,  farewell  telegram,  I,  359. 
Moons,    remarkable,    I,     294,    296,    297, 

306,  307,  338  ;   II,  27,  54,  65. 
Mountain  poppies,  tundra-plains  of  Asia, 

I,  122. 
Mud  on  ice  surface,  organisms  contained 

in,  I,  298,  504, 
Multer,  II,  33. 

Murray's  silk  net,  fishing  with,  I,  274. 
Musical  instruments  on  Fran/,  I,  142. 

N 
Nares,  Sir  George — 

Adverse  opinion  on  proposed  expedi- 
tion, I,  41,  42. 
Letters  of  congratulation  to  Nansen, 
I,  44  (Note). 
Nares'    expedition    (1875-76)    by    Smith 

Sound  Route,  I,  ro. 
Narwhals,  II,    215,    217,    231,    244,   633, 

634,  666 
Nathorst,  Professor,  report  on  vegetable 
fossils  found  near  Cape  Flora,  II,  560. 
N'atnrcn   map,  Nansen's  conjectures  ap- 
parently verified  by  the  Fj-aiiis  drift, 

I.  541- 
Naze,  storm  off,  I,  84. 
Neumayer,  Dr.,  magnetic  equipment  su- 
perintended by,  I,  74. 
Netv  Lands  within  Arctic  Circle,  quota- 
tion from,  II,  549  (Note). 
New  Siberian  Islands — 

Food    depots    established    on,  I,  75, 

76  (Note). 
Jeannette  expedition,  I,  14,  28. 


INDEX 


/-D 


New  Siberian  Islands — 

Russian  expeditions,  I,  7,  8. 
New-year's-day,  I,  357  ;  II,  4i>  454.  668. 
Nicolaysen's    plaster    used    for    caulking 

kayaks,  II,  127. 
Night    in    Arctic    regions,    I,    252,    431, 

557,  558.  567. 
Norbeck,  engine  of  the  Frani  constructed 

by,  I,  68. 
Nordahl,    Bernhard,  member    of    expedi- 
tion, I,  79. 
Assistant  in  meteorological  observa- 
tions, I,  243. 
Hut-building,  II,  664,  665. 
Nordenfjeldske  Steamship  Co.,  of  Trond- 
hjem,   pilots    for    expedition    supplied 
by,  I,  88. 
Nordenskiold's  map — 

Islands  marked  on,  not  seen  by  Nan- 
sen's  expedition,  I,  159 
Nansen's    remarks    on,   I,    188,   189, 
190,  191,  195,  197,   199,  200,  203, 

215. 
JVofdstJei-nen  precedes  the  Fram  up  fjord 

to  Christiania,  II,  596. 
Norsk    Tidsskript  for   Sovaessen,  Colin 

Archer's  Article  in,  I,  59. 
Norsksundet,  II,  702. 
North  Cape,  I,  102. 
Northbrook  Island,  II,  509  (Note). 
Basalt  rocks,  II,  554. 
Change  in  sea-level,  II,  557. 
Speculations  as  to  position  with  re- 
gard to,  II,  528. 
Northeast    Island,    proposed    sledge    ex- 
pedition, I,  583. 
Northeast  Land — 

Basalt  rocks,  II,  553. 
Speculations  as  to  position  with  re- 
gard to.  II,  459,  460. 
Northeast  Passage,  Weyprecht  and  Pay- 
er's expedition,  I,  12. 
Northernmost  point  reached,  II,  170. 
Norway — 

Farewell  to,  I,  104. 
First  sight  of,  from  Fram,  on  home- 
ward voyage,  II,  703. 
First   sight   of,  from    Wind'vard,  on 
homeward  voyage,  II,  580. 
Norwegian  Geographical  Society's   Year- 
Book— 
Nansen's  conjectures,  I,  541  (Note). 
Norwegian  Government — 

Contributions  to  expedition,  I,  54,  56. 
Telegram  to,  on  return,  II,  583. 
Norwegian  Sound,  II,  702. 
Novaya  Zemlya — 

Goose  Land,  sighted  by  the  Fram,  I, 
105. 


Novaya  Zemlya — 

Proposed  sledge  expedition,  I,  584. 
IVi Hd7m rd  sleers  for,  II,  579. 

O 

Odometer  carried  on   sledge  expedition, 

II,  loi  (Note),  140,  141. 
Onychiopsis,  II,  562. 
Open  water,  the  Fram  enters,  after  drift, 

II,  700. 
Otaria,  Nansen  sails  up  Norwegian  coast 

on,  II,  586,  590. 
Othar,  voyage  round  the  North  Cape,  I, 

4- 


Painting  kayaks,  difficulties  of,  II,  306. 
Papaver  nudicaule,  I,  122  ;  II,  353. 
Parry's  expedition — 

Arrangement  good,  II,  23. 
Boats  and  sledges  first  used  on,  I,  9. 
Payer — 

Expedition,  I,  12  ;    II,  75,  237,  344 

(Note). 
Map,  II,  548,  556. 

JVeTu    Lands    loithin    Arctic    Circle, 
quotation  from,  II,  549  (Note). 
Peary  expedition — 

Scurvy,  immunity  from,  I,  586. 
Sledge  journeys,  I,  8. 
Pemmican — 

Bags  of,  placed  under  kayaks,  II,  82, 

86. 
Supply  for  sledge  expedition,  unsat- 
isfactory, II,  125  (Note). 
Peppervik — 

Fram  sails  from,  I,  82. 
Welcome  on  return  of  the  Fram,  II, 
S96. 
Peter  Head,  II,  510  (Note). 
Petermann's  Land — 

Discovery  by  Payer,  I,  12. 
Extent,  probably  not  great,  II,  556. 
Speculations  as   to  position  with  re- 
gard to,  II,  226. 
Petermann  s  Mi/tei/uiigen,  article  on  pro- 
posed expedition,  I,  52. 
Petrified  wood.  Cape  Flora,  II,  553. 
Petroleum  fuel  used  on  sledge  journey, 

II,  122,  123. 
Petroleum  launch — 

Accident  to,  I,  124,  125,  147,  154. 
Destruction  of,  II,  649. 
Petroleum  store,  I,  547;   II,  122,  123,  207, 

353- 
Pettersen,  Lars,  member  of  the  expedi- 
tion, I,  79. 
Cooking  undertaken  by,  II,  665. 
Dancing  powers,  II,  27,  34. 


726 


INDEX 


Pettersen,  Lars,  nail-making,  II,  73. 
Shooting  practice,  II,  634. 
Sledge  expedition,  willingness  to  join, 

I,  523,  533- 
Stove  explosion,  I,  528. 
Phoca    barbata,    I,    192  ;    II,   284,    289, 

634. 

Phoca  foetida,  I,  234  ;  II,  233. 

Phoca  grcenlandica,  II,  369. 

Phosphorescent  water,  I,  274. 

Photographic  camera  taken  on  sledge  ex- 
pedition, II,  124. 

Pine-tree,  vegetable  fossils,  Cape  Flora, 
II,  560. 

Polar  cod,  II,  258. 

Polar  Sea,  depth  of,  I,  368,  465  ;  II,  620, 
647,  651,  678,  707,  711. 

Pole,  shifting  of,  conjectures  as  to,  I,  486, 
489. 

Pools  on  ice-floes,  I,  453. 

Poppies,  I,  122  ;   II,  353. 

Preparations  for  expedition,  I,  54. 

Preparations  for  sledge  expedition.  (See 
Sledge  Journeys). 

Preparations  for  southward  journey  after 
winter  in  hut,  II,  481,  482. 

"  Primus  "  lamp  for  cooking,  taken  on 
sledge  expedition,  II,  121. 

Procellaria  glacialis,  I,  468  ;  II,  229, 
475,.  502. 

Ptarmigan,  I,  152. 

Pterepoda,  II,  283. 

Pulverized  food  taken  on  sledge  expedi- 
tion, II,  124. 

Puppies  (see  title  "  Dogs  "). 


Rhodostethia  rosea,  I,  471  ;  II,  313. 
Rsekvik,    the   Frain   takes   up   her    long- 
boats at,  I,  83. 
Rainfall,  I,  25,  26:  II,  246,  308,  323,  341, 

655. 
Range,  coal-oil  apparatus  for  heating,  I, 

526,  547. 
Rawlinson's  Sound,  II,  349. 
Red  Bay,  II,  701. 
Red  snow,  II,  356,  372. 
Reindeer,  I,  150,  160,  203,  211. 
Reports — 

Nansen's,  deposited  in  hut,  II,  487. 
Sverdrup's,  of  the  Fraiii  s  drift  after 
departure  of  Nansen  and  Johansen, 
II,  601. 
Rheumatism,  Nansen  suffering  from,  I, 

290  ;    II,  456. 
Richards,  Sir  G.  H.,  adverse  opinion  on 

proposed  expedition,  I,  45. 
Richardson    expedition,    well    arranged, 

n,  23. 


Rifle,  loss  of,  I,  201. 

Ringed  seals,  II,  233. 

Ringnes,  EUef,  member  of  committee  of 
expedition,  I,  56. 

Ringnes,  T.,  and  Co.,  contribution  to  ex- 
pedition, I,  55. 

Rink,  Dr.,  drift-timber  found  on  Green- 
land coast  presented  to,  I,  20. 

Rissi  tridactyla,  I,  468. 

Rope-walk  on  ice,  1,  238,  464. 

Ross  expedition,  arrangements  good,  II, 

23- 
Ross's  gulls,  I,  471  ;    11,  3T3,  315,  324, 

325,  341,  343,  344. 
Royal     Geographical     Society,     London. 

(See  "Geographical  Society.") 
Rubble  ice,  II,  168. 
Russian  expeditions,  sledges  first  used  on, 

I,  7- 
Russian  traders,  Khabarova,  I,  113,  140. 


Saddleback  seals,  II,  369. 

Sailing  on  fresh-water  pools,  I,  454. 

Sails  for  sledges,  II,  89. 

Saint  Peter  and  Saint  Paul  Islands,  fail- 
ing to  see,  I,  220. 

Sand-hoppers,  I,  254. 

Sandpipers,  II,  245. 

Sannikoff  Land,  I,  231. 

Saxifrage,  I,  122  ;   II,  353. 

Schist,  argillaceous,  Helland's  Foreland, 
n,  372. 

Schou   Halve,  contributor  to  expedition, 

I'  55- 
Scientific   observations    made  on  expedi- 
tion, separate  publication  necessary,  II, 

707. 
Scott-Hansen  (see  Hansen). 
Scurvy,  immunity  from,  I,  585,  586;  II, 

124,  464. 
Sea-slugs,  I,  298. 
Sea-urchins,  II,  355. 
Sea- weed,  Torup's  Island,  II,  355. 
Seals,  I,  192,  197,  203,  234  ;   II,  232,  233, 

244,  284,  286,  289,  300,  302,  335,  340, 

357,  363,  369.  614.  634,  688. 
Sennegraes,  boots  lined    with   on    sledge 

journey,  II,  117. 
Seven  Islands,  proposed  journey  to,  over 

ice,  I,  582. 
Seven  Sisters,  I,  loi. 
Sextant  carried  on  sledge  expedition,  II, 

124. 
Sharks,  II,  637. 
Shellfish,  I,  29S. 
Shoes  used  on  sledge  expedition,  II,  116, 

195- 
Shooting  competition,  I,  517. 


INDEX 


727 


Shooting-stars,  I,  297  ;   II,  444. 

Shrimps  vomited  by  Arctic   rose-gull,  I, 
472. 

Siberia,  sledge   first   used   for  Arctic   ex- 
plorations, 1,  7 

Siberian  drift-wood,  I,  22  ;   II,  666,  708. 

SibiriakofT  colony,  Khabarova,  I,  112. 

Trontheini's    account    of    life    in,  I, 
140  141. 

Silver  gull,  II,  273. 

Simon,  H.,  contribution  to  expedition,  I, 

57- 
SkjaMvo,  the  Fraiii  anchors  at  on  return 

from  expedition,  II,  703. 
Skuas,  I,  471  ;    II,   379,  409,   666,  688, 

692. 
Sledge    journey    (Nansen's    and    Johan- 
sen's)  — 
Ash-sledges,  II.  81. 
Birch-sledge  broken  up,  II,  208. 
Cross  -  bars    and    bows    snapping    at 

start,  return  for  repairs,  II,  99. 
Curtailing  sledges,  II,  348. 
Dogs,  list  of,  II,  131  (see  also  title 

"Dogs"). 
Equipment,  I,  581;  II,  112,  314,  317. 
Food  (see  that  title). 
Grips  for  sledges,  II,  2S5,  306,  314. 
II  and -sledges,  II,  14. 
Hauling  harness,  II,  275  (Note). 
Health  good  during,  II,  247. 
Homeward  journey  begun,  II,  170. 
Hut  (see  that  title). 
Johansen  chosen  as  companion,  II, 

2,7- 
Kayaks  (see  that  title). 
Lanes,  method  of  crossing,  II,  329. 
Maple-guards  under  sledges,  II,  81, 

216. 
Northernmost  point  reached,  II,  170. 
Packing  sledges  on  kayaks,  II,  366. 
Pattern  of  sledge  used,  II,  113. 
Preparations  for  journey,  I,  419,  446, 

472,  510,  525,  531,  541,  543,  544, 

578  ;  II,  I,  16,  66,  69,  70,  81,  100. 
Rate  of  travelling,  II,  135,  139,  140, 

142,  143,  163,  167,  168,  172,  175, 

176,   178,  179,  183,  186,  190,  197, 

206,  208,  216,  217,  2ig,  220,  224, 

232,  258,  262,  268. 
Sails  used  on,  II,  89,  129. 
Sleeping-bag  (see  that  title). 
Start,  11,98,  loi,  105,  no,  132. 
Sverdrup  left  in  charge  of  ship,  II,  i, 

91,  no. 
Temperature   of  every  month,  table 

showing,  II,  597. 
Sledge  journey.  Payer's,  II,  75. 
Sledge     journey     southward,    Sverdrup's 


preparation  for,  in  case  of  abandonment 
of  ship,  II,  606,  648,  649,  667. 

Sleep,  time  passed  in,  during  life  in  hut, 
II,  464. 

Sleeping-bag,  II,    16,   86,    iiS,   146,   147, 

155;  314.  317.434.  474.485- 
Sleeping-shelf  in  hut,  II,  427,  434. 
Sleeplessness,  complaints  of,  I,  356. 
Smith    Sound    route,    expedition    by,    I, 

10. 
Smoking  on  board,  regulations,  I,  536. 
Snails,  II,  355. 
Sneerenburg  Bay,  II,  712. 
Snipe,  I,  149,  231. 
Snow,  red,  II,  356,  372. 
Snow-blindness,  cases  of,  I,  492. 
Snow-buntings,  II,  617,  681. 
Snow-owls,  I,  123. 
Snowshoe  practice,  I,  541,  543,  576,  577  ; 

II,  609. 
Snowshoes — 

Hut  roof  supported  by,  II,  391. 
Kayaks  stiffened  with,  II,  340. 
Indian  snowshoes  probably  best  for 

sledge  expeditions,  II,  207. 
Making,  II.  76,  606. 
Paddles  made  of,  II,  340. 
Taken  on  sledge  expeditions,  II,  123. 
Socks  worn  on  sledge  journey,  II,  116, 

117. 
Sokolii,  I,  147. 
Sostrene,  the  Fram  meets,  on  sailing  into 

open  waters,  II,  701. 
Sounding-line,  cable    converted    into,    I, 

464. 
Southward  journey  after  winter  in  hut, 

11,481. 
Spadella,  I,  274, 
Spaerella    nivalis,   snow   colored    by,    II, 

356  (Note). 
Spitzbergen — 

Basalt  rocks,  II,  553. 

Development  of,  news  brought  by  the 

Wind-ward,  II,  574. 
Flora,  II,  563. 
Ice-free  waters,  I,  4. 
Peter's  stories,  I,  378,  379. 
Speculation  as  to  position  with  regard 
to,  II,  272,  459,  509,  519. 
Sponges,  I,  298. 
Star-fish,  I,  298. 
Steinen  Island,  II,  380  (Note). 
Stellaria,  II,  353. 
Stercorarius  crepidata,  II,  409. 
Stocking-legs  or  socks  worn  on  sledge  ex- 
pedition, II,  116. 
Strand-ice,  II,  405. 
Subscriptions  to  expedition,  I,  54,  56. 
Summer  day,  mildness  of,  I,  491,  516. 


728 


INDEX 


Sun — 

Disappearance  of,  I,  296,  532  ;    II, 
666. 

Eclipse,  I,  431. 

Mirage,  I,  394,  395. 

Reappearance,  II,  76,  107,  67S. 
Sundt,  E.,  contribution  to  expedition,  I, 

55- 
Supan,  Professor,  favorable  view  of  pro- 
posed expedition,  I,  52. 
Sverdrup,    Otto    Neumann,    Commander 

of  the  Frani,  I,  77,  98. 
Bags  for  kayaks  made  by,  II,  82. 
Birthday  celebration,  I,  298. 
Command  of  expedition  handed  over 

to,  on  Nansen's  departure  on  sledge 

journey,  II,  91,  no,  601. 
Expedition  up  Yugor  Strait,  I,  1 18, 

121. 
Illness,  II,  22,  27. 
Island  discovered  by,  I,  154. 
Kayak  building,  II,  12. 
Reindeer  stalking,  I,  166. 
Report  of  drifting  of  the  Fram  after 

departure  of  Nansen,  II,  601. 
Sledge    journey,    talking    over    with 

Nansen,  I,  578  ;  II,  i. 
Steamship    sailing    to    Spitzbergen, 

commanded  by,  II,  574  (Note). 
Telegram   to  Nansen,   on   arrival  of 

the  Fram,  II,  589. 
Sverdrup's  Island,  I,  154,  157. 

Taimur  Bay,  I,  209. 

Taimur  Island,  I,  189,  190,  igi,  192,  209. 

Taimur  Strait,  I,  190,  199. 

Taxites,  II,  560. 

Tegethoff  expedition,  I,  9,  14. 

Telescope  taken  on  sleclge  journey,   II, 

124. 
Temperature  of  ice,  I,  463. 
Temperature  statements,  I,  467  ;  II,  597> 
664,  667,  713,  714. 
Polar    Seas    warmer    than    hitherto 
supposed  ;    conclusion    arrived    at 
from    hydrographic     observations, 
II,  711. 
Tent  taken  on  sledge  expedition,  II,  15, 
119. 
Fire  caused   by  lamp  explosion,  II, 

296. 
Hut  roofed  with,  II,  391. 
Substitute  for,  II,  485. 
Terns,  II,  341. 
Theodolite  taken   on   sledge  expedition, 

II,  124. 
Thermometer  taken  on  sledge  expedition, 
II,  124,  430. 


Thornoe — 

Electric  apparatus  constructed  by,  I, 

Hydrographic    department,    superin- 
tended by,  I,  74. 
Threads, procured  from  twine  and  unravel- 
ling of  bags,  II,  465. 
Thyrsopteris,  II,  562, 
Tidal  wave,   ice-pressure  probably  influ- 
enced by,  I,  279. 
Tobolsk    official  newspaper,  Trontheim's 
account  of  journey  with  dogs,  1,133,134. 
Tools  used  in  building  hut,  II,  410. 
Torellia,  II,  561. 
Torgersen,  Johan,  dogs  for  expedition  to 

be  delivered  by,  I,  75. 
Torghatten,  I,  98. 
Tornebohm,  IJr. ,  analysis  of  mud  deposit 

on  drift-ice,  I,  39. 
Torup,  Professor,  physiological  medicinal 

preparations  undertaken  by,  I,  75. 
Torup's  Island,  II,  355  (Note). 
Trsenen,  I,  loi. 
Tromso  — 

Frani  s  outward  voyage,  I,  98,  loi. 
Ftn/n's  return,  II,  590,  706. 
Trondhjem,  I,  98. 

Trontheim,  Alexander  Ivanovitch,  I,  75. 
Account  of  journey  with  dogs,  given 
in    Tobolsk   official   newspaper,  I, 

133-  134- 
Medal  presented  to,  I,  132,  144. 
Nansen's  meeting  with,  at  Khabaro- 

va,  I,  113. 
Sails  for  Vardo  in  Urania,  I,  144. 
Tundra-plains  of  Asia,  I,  123,  137,  138. 

U 
Ulfstinden,   King    Half  dan     meets    the 

Fram  off,  II,  706. 
Unknown    lands,    I,   154,  159,    184,    187, 
192:11,344,505. 
Nansen's  farewell  instructions  to  Sver- 
drup on  importance  of  exploring, 
II,  no.  III. 
Urania — 

Coal  supply  to  be  conveyed  to  Kha- 

barova  by,  I,  77. 
Delay  in  arrival,  I,  114,  132,  144. 
Trontheim  and  Christofersen  sail  in 
her  for  Vardo,  I,  144. 
Uria  Brl'innichii,  II,  281. 
Uria  grylle,  I,  468  ;   II,  232,  471. 

V 

"  Vadmel "  squares  used  on  sledge  jour- 
ney, II,  117. 

Vagen,  Fram  touches  at,  lecture  and  ban- 
quet, I,  91. 


INDEX 


729 


Vages'  fish-flour  used  on  sledge  expedi- 
tion, II,  125. 
Vaigatch  Island,  I,  in. 
Valkyrie  precedes  the  Frain  up  fjord,  on 

return  to  Christiania,  II,  596. 
Vardo — 

Bath,  103 

Christofersen  and  Trontheim  return 

to,  I,  145. 
Fram  puts  in  at,  banquet,  ball,  and 

farewells,  I,  102,  104. 
Wind'cvard  x&X.\xxwi  to,  II,  579,  581. 
Venus,  first  appearance  above  horizon,  I, 

369- 
Vesteraalen  Company,  steamboat  service 

to  Spitzbergen,  II,  574. 
Vikings,  first  Arctic  voyagers,  I,  3. 
Virgo,  steamship   of   Andree  expedition, 

II,  702. 
Von  Toll,  Baron — 

Dogs  for  expedition  provided  by,  I, 

75-  . 
Provision   depots   on    New  Siberian 

Islands,  I,  75,  76. 

W 

Walruses,  I,  192,  220,  337  ;  II,  345,  346, 
364,  384,  385,  392,  393,  405,  407,  408, 
412,  41S,  421,  423,  497,  501,  502,  516, 

517-  519- 

Wardroper,  Mr.,  help  in  promising  dogs 
for  expedition,  I,  75. 

Watches  run  down,  II,  172,  175,  176. 

Comparison  with  Jackson's  chronom- 
eter, II,  544. 

Water-samples,  examination  of,  I,  303. 

Waving  star-fish,  I,  298. 

Wedding-day  anniversaries,  I,  207,  528. 

Weight  of  members  of  expedition — 
Decrease,  II,  628. 
Increase,  I,  390,  542  ;   II,  692. 

Weyprecht  and  Payer  expedition  (1872- 
74).  I.  12. 

Whales,  II,  231,  407,  558,  633,  688  (see 
also  "  Narwhals  "). 

Wharton,  Captain,  favorable  view  of  pro- 
posed expedition,  I,  45. 

Whey-powder  and  water,  beverage  on 
sledge  journey,  II,  147. 

White  Island,  I,  153. 


White  Land  (see  "  Hvidtenland  "). 
Whitsuntide,  II,  239,  624. 
Wilczek  Land — 

Extent  probably  not  great,  II,  557. 
Probability  of  open  water  along  coast, 

II,  228. 
Speculations  with  regard  to,  II,  268, 
548,  549- 
Willow-grouse,  I,  21 1. 
Wilton,  Mr.,  member  of  Jackson-Harms- 

worth  expedition,  II,  573. 
Wind- 
Current      influenced      by,    Nansen's 

theory,  I,  28,  29. 
Drift  strongly  influenced  by,  II,  711. 
Temperature  raised  by,  I,  373. 
Wind-clothes,  I,  415  ;   II,  115,  434. 
Windmill  for  electric-light  dynamo,  I,  238, 
241,  293. 
Accidents,  I,  554,  564. 
Amundsen  repairing,  II,  74,  78. 
Taken  down,  II,  618. 
Windward — 

Arrival  of,  II,  566,  573. 
Homeward  voyage  in,  II,  577. 
Winter  on  board  the  Fram — 

Account  of  day  during,  I,  246. 
Preparations  for,  I,  237, 
Wintering  on  Franz  Josef  Land,  Nansen 

and  Johansen,  II,  391. 
Wolf-skin  garments,  too  warm  for  sledge 

expedition,  II,  114. 
Work-room,  Nansen's,  I,  532. 
Workshops   on   board   the  Fram.  I,  238, 

427. 
Wounds — 

Caused    by    sticking    of    clothes    to 

skin  during  life  in  hut,  II,  462. 
Wrist-sores  caused  by  frozen  sleeve, 

11.  145- 
Wrangel's     Land,  Jeaniiette    stuck    fast 
near,  I,  13,  28. 

Y 
Yalmal,  landing  on,  I,  149. 
Young,   Sir    Allen,   adverse    opinion    on 

proposed  expedition,  I,  44. 
Yugor  Strait,  the  Fram  enters,  I,  112. 


Zachau,  Captain,  of  the  Virgo,  II,  702. 


THE    END 


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namental, $3  50. 

The  Tsar  and  His  People.  8vo,  Cloth,  Ornamental,  Uncut  Edges 
and  Gilt  Top,  $3  00. 

BY  WILLIAM   ELEROY   CURTIS: 

THE  Capitals  of  Spanish  America.    With  a  Colored  Map  and  358 

Illustrations.    8vo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

VENEZUELA:  a  Land  where  it's  Always  Summer.  With  a  Colored  Map. 
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ILIOS,  the  City  and  Country  of  the  Trojans.  The  Results  of  Researches 
and  Discoveries  on  the  Site  of  Troy  and  throughout  the  Troad  in  the  years 
i87i-'72-'73-'78-'79 ;  including  an  Autobiography  of  the  Autlior.  By 
Dr.  HENRY  SCHLIEMANN,  F.S.A.,  etc.  With  a  Preface,  Appendices, 
and  Notes.  With  Maps,  Plans,  and  about  1800  Illustrations.  Royal 
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TROJA  :  Results  of  the  Latest  Researches  and  Discoveries  on  the  Site  of 
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Year  1882 ;  and  a  Narrative  of  a  Journey  in  the  Troad  in  1881.  By  Dr. 
Henry  SCHLIEMANN,  F.S.A.,  etc.  Preface  by  Professor  A.  H.  Sayce. 
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JINRIKISHA  DAYS  IN  JAPAN.  By  ELIZA  R.  SCIDMORE.  illustrated. 
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SPANISH  VISTAS.  By  GEORGE  PARSONS  LATHROP.  Illustrated  by 
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SHOSHONE,  and  other  Western  Wonders.  By  EDWARDS  ROBERTS. 
With  a  Preface  by  CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS.  Illustrated.  Post  8vo, 
Cloth,  $1  00;  Paper,  75  cents. 

MEXICO,  CALIFORNIA,  AND  ARIZONA.  By  WILLIAM  HENRY 
Bishop.  With  numerous  Illustrations,  chiefly  from  Sketches  by  the 
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